DCS double standard continues after top official’s arrest

The recent arrest and court appearance of a top ranked Department of Children’s Services (DCS) official, in addition to the response of the department afterward, has many employees and civilians criticizing the department’s handling of employees who are arrested and where that leaves neglected and abused children of Tennessee.
Warren Clay Crook, 54, is the Deputy Regional Administration for the 11 county Southwest Region of DCS. Crook was arrested on March 23, just before 11 p.m., for four counts of aggravated assault after Lexington Police Officers were called to the scene of a ‘shots fired’ call in the vicinity of Pine Cove Drive and Deerhaven in Lexington.  Crook, who resides in the area, approached a vehicle with three teenagers in it and shots were fired, according to police authorities.
According to one relative of a teen in the vehicle, Crook accused the teenagers of being parked on his property and fired a shot in spite of the teens being unarmed.
“One of the girls lives in the area where they go to sit around, talk and listen to music,” said Vicky Fiddler, grandmother of one of the girls. “My granddaughter got off work and she drove to the location, which is a dead-end road. (Crook) walks up, and popped the trunk area of her car with the gun and dented it pretty badly.”
One of the teenagers told Fiddler they were accused by Crook of being parked on his property, but Fiddler said she was told the girls were parked on the street.
However, the actions, or lack of action, on the part of DCS regarding Crook’s arrest has continued to cause morale to plummet and a mixed signal being sent by the department to civilians.
DCS Communications Director Rob Johnson told the Jackson Sun that Crook’s job duties at the department were “largely desk driven” and he does not have contact with children in his job. On the other hand, Johnson told The Bulletin-Times “Mr. Crook has been restricted to desk duty and will have no direct contact with children.” Does that translate to a message that Crook has received no actual disciplinary action from DCS after being arrested?
The Administrative Policies and Procedures for DCS 4.1 read “all Department of Children’s Services (DCS) employees that have direct contact with children must be free from a criminal or abuse history that could pose a safety risk to children. All Department of Children’s Services employees that work with sensitive or confidential information, but who may or may not have direct contact with children, must be free of criminal or abuse history.”
Since all DCS employees work with children and families involved with the juvenile court system, all information pertaining to the cases of children, and families is confidential. As a result, Crook would still be required to be free of a criminal history.
Although he has not been found guilty yet, since he pled not guilty to the charges in Henderson County General Sessions Court on March 31, DCS policy still requires him to receive disciplinary action.
DCS Administrative Policies and Procedures 4.9 reads ‘all disciplinary actions will be issued as swiftly as possible after the problem behavior or performance issues occur in order to ensure the employee receives prompt feedback on their conduct and/or performance and deter the employee from future problem conduct and/or performance deficiencies.”
The same policy, 4.9, outlays procedures for disciplining an employee who has been arrested, indicted or convicted of a criminal behavior. The policy does not require the employee to be convicted before disciplining the employee.
According to DCS policy, “in a case where a conviction has not occurred…a decision to impose discipline must be supported at the same level of proof required for any disciplinary action. (e.g., a preponderance of evidence to support the imposition of the disciplinary sanction.) The ‘preponderance of

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