A Huntington police officer was suspended without pay because of allegations he looked at pornography on a police department computer.
Huntington Police Chief S. Thomas Emely has asked the Board of Public Works and Safety to fire Officer Melbourne Hunnicutt, according to allegations filed against him June 23.
The department accused Hunnicutt of neglect of duty for using a department-owned computer while he was on duty to access pornographic Web sites “repeatedly” between May 24 and June 14.
Hunnicutt’s actions violated the department’s computer-use policies, its standards on productive use of work time and its mandate that officers promote a positive public image, the department said.
Huntington City Attorney John Branham released the documents Friday in response to an Indiana open-records request from The Journal Gazette after he initially declined to talk about the allegations. The Huntington Police Department referred all questions to Branham.
The Board of Public Works and Safety will decide whether to act on the charges against Hunnicutt during a hearing tentatively scheduled for July 20.
