What is it with retired Metro Police Lieutenant Calvin Hullett?

Video: Word On The Street (8/10/07)

Hullett, a one-time president of the Fraternal Order of Police, took a disability pension in January.

It didn't take long for the former officer to take a job with the F.O.P's arch enemy, the Teamsters International Union as a recruiter. I’m not sure what that involves in Nashville?

Not too long after that, Hullett was charged with aggravated burglary. He's been accused of placing hidden cameras in a building at the F.O.P.'s Summer Camp for Kids in Mt. Juliet.

Apparently the clandestine installation was trying to catch the officers who were serving as camp counselors drinking beer in their living quarters.

Hullett's attorney said everybody makes mistakes.

All of this raises an interesting questions about Hullett, who spent 23 years with the Metro police.

He had a somewhat rocky career, resigning once under investigation, took jobs with several area police departments and several years later got his job back with Metro. There were a few suspensions.

Hullett was elected president of the F.O.P. in 2001 for a three-year term.

"Calvin was extremely bright," said retired assistant Metro Police Chief Charlie Smith. "But he was vindictive and had a short fuse."

Photographing the police-counselors drinking beer in their quarters would have been no big deal, Smith said.

They've been doing it and playing cards for some 35 years, said the former police official, who was served as F.O.P. president in 1977.

"Why didn't Hullett do something about this when he was F.O.P. president?" Smith asked. "He certainly knew about it."

That's a good question.

Why didn't you stop it then, Calvin?