CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – A 23 year veteran of the Chattanooga Police department has been fired and it could be due to multiple conflicts of interest.

An internal investigation found that Lt. Shawn Hickey worked a second job as a social worker for Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute while he was on duty.

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Police say he counseled as many as six patients who also faced criminal charges.

We are told by officials that Hickey’s firing is based solely on misconduct.

Chattanooga Police’s first African American police officer Napoleon Williams believes Hickey should have used better judgement.

“It falls in his lap. He should have been thinking more. You know I ain’t got no business taking that car across state lines… twice. He can’t go to the NAACP with that.”

The Associated Press also says that Hickey had been using his police vehicle to visit his girlfriend, that he was hiding from his wife.