A political newcomer seeking the Republican nomination for Bartholomew County sheriff in Tuesday’s primary election was twice suspended without pay from her job as an Indiana State Police trooper.
Tamara Watson, 47, who was assigned to the Versailles post from 1998 until her 2016 resignation, was suspended with pay for one day in late 2015 for failure to submit four criminal incident reports on time. But before that disciplinary action was taken on Nov. 30, 2015, Watson’s performance on other job-related matters was also under scrutiny, according to her personnel records provided by the Indiana State Police.
In disciplinary action announced Jan. 28, 2016 by State Police Superintendent Douglas Carter, Watson was also suspended without pay for 15 days for five different infractions:
Failure to notify a supervisor in September 2015 after learning of a warrant being out for an adult male after running a driver’s license check on him.
Disclosing that information and discussing the active warrant with the individual without permission that same month.
Failure to obtain car-repair estimates within a required 10-day window after being involved in an accident between early October and early November 2015.
Providing false information to a supervisor about contacting body shops to repair her police vehicle in early November 2015.
Providing additional false information to the same supervisor about employees at one of the body shops, also in early November 2015.
Personnel records requested from Bartholomew County and the city of Columbus of the other two candidates in the sheriff’s race — incumbent Matt Myers and challenger Rob Kittle — show no disciplinary actions while employed in law enforcement roles.
For Myers, that includes 23 years working for the Columbus Police Department — 1991 to 2014 — and as Bartholomew County sheriff since Jan. 1, 2015. For Kittle, that includes working for the sheriff’s department from 2001 to 2014.
Certain portions personnel files on public employees are open to the public under Indiana’s public record statutes.
Watson said she agreed to meet with The Republic on Thursday to discuss and explain the disciplinary actions taken against her, after having posted information about some of the disciplinary action herself April 2 on her campaign Facebook page.
“Put every bit of this out,” Watson said.
Bartholomew County law enforcement has an issue with transparency with the community, and being open about her disciplinary history with the state police shows that she is transparent, Watson said in the interview.
“I am putting this out because I am not perfect and I don’t know any of us who are,” she said. “By putting this out there, I am showing transparency in a part of my life I usually don’t talk about.”
Watson described the time period of May through November 2015, when the job-related infractions were cited by supervisors, as difficult. Watson said she had been through a divorce and had begun dating an individual who eventually began stalking her and her children.
The former trooper said she used Indiana State Police equipment and access for personal reasons to run a driver’s-license background check on the individual she had been dating.
“It was wrong,” Watson said of her conduct in this instance.
She was concerned he was coming back to Indiana from out of state and wanted to check his whereabouts and current legal status, Watson said.
“I had gone out with this person and I had told him I didn’t want to go out with him anymore,” she said.
Watson initially referred to the individual as a felon, saying that was how another police officer had described him, but acknowledged that she had not checked to see whether the individual had been convicted of a felony.
Watson did not pursue a protective order against the individual although she feared for her family’s safety, she said.
“I was emotionally torn up,” she said. “I didn’t tell anybody.”
In a related violation, Watson was accused of telling the individual — the person she had dated — without a supervisor’s permission that a warrant was out for his arrest, her disciplinary records state.
Watson said warrants are open to the public and she wanted to know the status of the criminal charge, which she said she believes was later dropped.
In addition to those violations, she was also accused of conveying false information to a fellow officer about official agency business when she told a sergeant in an internal inquiry review that she called body shops to get estimates to get her police car repaired, when she had actually not done so.
She was also accused of conveying false information to a fellow officer concerning official department business when she told the same sergeant in the internal inquiry review that she spoke to females at the body shop, when ISP investigators determined no females worked there.
During the Republic interview, Watson initially said she had provided that information to get her supervisor “off her back” about the repair estimate on the car, saying that is something everyone does.
Later in the interview, she said she didn’t recall either of the two related incidents, saying it was “so low on her radar” that she didn’t remember what happened.
“Whenever you get a write-up like this, it’s the first level — move on,” Watson said.
“As I said earlier, this was the worst time of my life,” she said. “I have no problem with transparency. I have no problem admitting this was not a part of my life that I’m proud of. But this is not indicative of my entire career.”
Watson signed all the disciplinary documents, but said that only meant she had seen them, and that it did not mean she had actually done the things described in them.
However, when asked directly about each of seven violations, she said she did do the license check and call the individual about the warrant, and that she was late on paperwork.
She said she did not recall details on the other two charges regarded repairs needed to her police vehicle after a slide-off, which state she conveyed false information to other police officers.
Watson said she did not appeal any of the disciplinary actions to say the allegations weren’t true.
With the stalking incident, Watson said she experienced being a victim — on the flip side of being a police officer who interviews victims.
Being a civilian highlighted what she had never realized as a police officer — that officers are trained to enter a situation to be in control, always be right and to handle situations, Watson said.
“That mindset follows you your whole career and I felt somewhat victimized by it when I started my career,” Watson said.
Watson left the Indiana State Police by submitting a resignation letter and giving two weeks notice and accepting a marketing job with Culey Construction, in Winchester, she said.
She currently is an instructor at Watson Chambers Defense Institute in Columbus. State records list her son, Aaron Watson, Columbus, as president of the company and Chadwick Boyd Chambers, Seymour, as chief executive officer. The candidate said she does not have a financial stake in the company.
If elected, Watson said she will not be able to teach some of the courses she currently teaches at the company, but would stay as instructor of a twice-a-month Saturday course.
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“I am putting this out because I am not perfect and I don’t know any of us who are. By putting this out there, I am showing transparency in a part of my life I usually don’t talk about.”
— Tamara Watson, Republican candidate for sheriff, referring to disciplinary actions filed against her
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