Florida police chief accused of conducting improper searches, rejects allegations as 'false and slanderous'

A Florida union head is calling for the Bradenton Police Department's chief to be suspended and has filed an administrative complaint against the City for alleged unfair labor practices after its top cop allegedly conducted an illegal search – and her department then took "abusive" steps against the officer who reported her, Fox News has learned.

The Florida Police Benevolent Association (PBA) on Wednesday filed its complaint against the city, and specifically named the Bradenton Police Department and Chief Melanie Bevan. The complaint cited "unfair labor practices" after the agency’s "abusive and prejudicial interrogations" of an officer who reported that Bevan unlawfully searched a person and a home, according to the document and union officials.

"If one of my officers was faced with a similar allegation that exists and that has been sworn to involving the chief, that officer would have been placed in an immediate administrative leave capacity until a thorough investigation was conducted and completed," said Mick McHale, president of the Southwest Florida PBA.

A spokesperson for the Bradenton Police Department told Fox News Digital the agency was aware of the document alleging "unfair labor practice charge filed by the Florida PBA with the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission."

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"That complaint involves a currently active administrative investigation that is confidential under Florida law. As such, we are prohibited from disclosing and unable to comment at this time," the spokesperson, Meredith Frameli, wrote in an email. "We will be following the rules and procedures of the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission in regard to any required response to the complaint filed."

The city’s mayor did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

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McHale is calling for Bevan to be suspended until an investigation is conducted, and for a review of the police department’s internal affairs investigators who handled an officer's claims related to Bevan’s alleged behavior. 

"It's alarming that the rules don't apply equally up to and including the chief's office," McHale went on. 

According to the complaint, Bevan was working with a new officer on July 14, 2022, when they responded to a call on 21st Avenue West to assist probation officers serving an arrest warrant. Another officer, Hannah Kalchbrenner, also responded with a trainee. 

But Bevan began searching people who were inside the residence, despite that none of the individuals were allegedly the probationer in question, according to the claim. 

"At no time did the individuals inside the home grant any officer their consent to be searched," the complaint states. "At the time of the search, Chief Bevan knew that the person being searched was not the probationer who was being sought for arrest."

"The owner of the residence asked Chief Bevan if law enforcement had a search warrant and demanded that Chief Bevan leave her home if she did not have a search warrant for the residence," the complaint continues. 

The document further describes how Bevan "continued to search inside the probationer’s residence" even after the person had been arrested – and "ignored the homeowner’s command" to leave the home, despite that the probationer had already been loaded into the police car. 

Officer Kalchbrenner, who was at the scene with several officers whose body cameras were activated, later reported the incident to the police department’s Internal Affairs unit, citing "numerous violations of the Fourth Amendment." 

In a letter published by local affiliate FOX 13 on Thursday, Chief Bevan called the allegations "false and slanderous."

"It is unfortunate I am prohibited from responding to the current false allegations against me as it would be a violation of state law to discuss an investigation while active, something Mr. McHale is very aware of and undoubtedly capitalizing on," she wrote. 

She said she expects her name will be cleared when the body camera footage is made public. The top cop also said the allegations were a product of ongoing contract negotiation disputes, though McHale denied that there was any connection.

"I am confident when the investigation is complete, the evidence will speak for itself and I will be fully exonerated of any assertion of conduct violation," the letter states. 

When Kalchbrenner showed up for work the day after submitting the complaint, she said she was "ambushed." 

An Internal Affairs lieutenant allegedly requested an immediate interview. A detective joined them, and the pair allegedly repeatedly refused Kalchbrenner’s requests for her lawyer or a PBA representative. 

"[B]oth told her that she could not leave," the complaint states. Later in their interview, they allegedly ordered she hand over her personal cell phone to show them a text message conversation with a coworker about the July 14 incident.

The lieutenant who questioned Kalchbrenner "told her that they were reporting directly to the Mayor, and he acknowledged that Chief Bevan read the email that she sent to her chain-of-command and to Internal Affairs," the claim states. 

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On July 31, Kalchbrenner and her husband, who is also an officer, learned their department identification keys to access the building no longer worked, and their department emails had been deactivated. 

Kalchbrenner later left the force, writing in her resignation later that, "The prophylactic duty of the Internal Affairs section has been compromised and is wielded by the administration to assert dominance and intimidation over officers," according to FOX 13.