Major Crimes Detective David Catchings Jr.

Kevin Kincer

State officials will go forward with the process to decertify a Chattanooga police detective who was fired from the department even though the officer has refused to cooperate with the process, members of the Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission agreed on Friday.

POST Commission members voted to hold a formal hearing for former detective David Catchings, who was fired from the department in March after he was arrested on charges of driving under the influence and domestic assault in late 2014. Catchings has refused to speak with the commission, said spokesman Kevin Walters, communications director for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance.

A date for the hearing hasn't been set.

If Catchings is decertified at the hearing, he will not be able to work as a police officer anywhere in Tennessee. Each Tennessee police officer must be POST-certified, and the statewide organization is the primary regulatory body for the state's law enforcement.

Chattanooga police Chief Fred Fletcher requested the decertification when he fired Catchings. At the same time, Fletcher asked that the POST Commission also decertify former Sgt. Kevin Kincer, who resigned from the department before he could be fired after pleading no contest to six charges of official misconduct and theft in late 2014.

Kincer was accused of stealing as many as 631 pills from the department's evidence room and then attempting to cover it up in 2013.

On Friday, Kincer agreed to voluntarily surrender his POST certification to the commission after members voted to go forward with his decertification, Walters said.

Kincer's attorney, Hank Hill, declined comment on the decision to surrender on Tuesday. Catching's attorney did not return requests for comment, and Catchings could not be reached.

Contact staff writer Shelly Bradbury at 423-757-6525 or sbradbury@timesfreepress.com with tips or story ideas.