PELICAN BAY, Texas — A North Texas police chief who resigned following an investigation into an allegation over whether he used a racial slur has been hired in a new city.
Brad Anderson served as the police chief in Alvarado until August of last year and was hired this year as the police chief in Pelican Bay.
WFAA spoke to Anderson briefly on the phone, but he declined an interview, saying “all that stuff [in Alvarado] was proven false” and saying neither he nor the city’s mayor would have any comment.
WFAA also reached out to Mayor Tamra Olague for comment but did not hear back.
Through an open records request, WFAA obtained the final report of Alvarado’s investigation into Anderson. The report was written by Terri Swain, a third-party human resource consultant hired by the city.
The report revealed that city council member Tracy Melson received an anonymous Facebook message in June of 2021. The message included a video in which someone made a statement "about being Irish/Black (1/16th Black) and use of the N word," the investigative report said.
No faces were shown in the video, and there was "no way to ascertain where the video was taken," according to the report.
Melson reported the video to city officials, who hired an investigator to look into the video and interview several people, including Anderson.
Melson told investigators the voice was “very distinctly Brad Anderson’s voice," according to the investigation report.
Anderson passed a polygraph test, denying he was on the tape. Other people interviewed said they weren’t sure it was Anderson.
The investigation also used an audio/visual forensic analyst who determined the video was not edited or tampered with and that the voice was a “probable but not positive” match to Anderson, the report said.
Swain, the investigator on the report, was not able to get in touch with the original Facebook messenger, so their recommendation was to not fire Anderson but to leave the investigation in his file, in case other people or the original person came forward regarding allegations of racism.
The report noted that Melson and her husband, Gary Melson, an Alvarado police officer, "have been public critics of [Anderson] and how he has run the department."
Swain concluded "there is not enough evidence to sufficiently conclude that the voice on the video was Brad Anderson."
The investigation report was dated August 23, 2021. On August 24, 2021, Anderson submitted his resignation to the city.
His resignation letter said, “I hereby resign my position with the City of Alvarado, Texas, effective August 24, 2021. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the residents of the City of Alvarado.”
It was not clear when Anderson was then hired by the City of Pelican Bay, a town of 2,000 residents in northwest Tarrant County. An April 25 city council agenda had an item mentioning acting on a Chief of Police, though it remained unclear if that was when Anderson was hired.
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