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Former Maryland Heights police supervisor accused of bullying

"This practice could not be tolerated in our workplace."
A former Maryland Heights police supervisor is accused of bullying some police department employees while he was on the force.

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — A former Maryland Heights police supervisor is accused of bullying while on the force. For the first time, the city performed assessments of all city departments. Mayor Mike Moeller identified key results in a January newsletter.

"One area of particular concern to me was the pervasive pattern of bullying, harassment and discrimination shown towards some police department employees by a former supervisor," the mayor wrote. "Consistent with recent news reports depicting men across the country abusing their positions of authority, this practice could not be tolerated in our workplace."

Bottom line, the City is addressing bullying, and one high school freshman says that is needed the most.

Rachel McCormick is on the swim team. She competed at Kirkwood High School Tuesday and her mom, Angela McCormick, was there in support.

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"Great coaches," McCormick said. "We really love it and she's been so happy."

But Rachel wasn't always this happy. In middle school, she was bullied.

"It was this group of people and I wasn't allowed to really talk with them," she said. "There was a time where someone put their foot on my face and pushed me away."

We know bullying happens in schools; kids like Rachel are proof. However, it also happens in the workplace.

Moeller says, after the City gave the police supervisor an opportunity to defend and resolve the assessment results, he instead chose to take early retirement.

The McCormicks believe that talking about bullying as kids could mean fewer cases of it for adults.

"If we can get that dialogue, I'm hoping that we can bring in change and really improve how we treat each other," McCormick said.

The assessment also revealed the supervisor may have used city resources to run a private security business. The mayor's letter says that raised serious ethical concerns.

"The City initiated a series of Public Safety Committee meetings to develop new policies and procedures governing the use of police department resources and develop guidelines and agreements related to secondary employment of sworn police officers with local businesses," he wrote.

He says the City also ordered immediate implementation of "advanced harassment, discrimination and supervisory training" for all employees.

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Follow Kiya Edwards on Twitter, @KiyaEdwards

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