NEWBERN, Tenn. – A former Newbern Police officer could lose his certification to work in the state of Tennessee.

State records from the Peace Officers Standards and Training, or POST, Commission show Benjamin Gilkey was fired from the department in December 2025.

In his termination letter, Police Chief Greg Barr said he investigated two allegations against Gilkey.

The first stemmed from the arrest of a Newbern driver for an open container violation in November. Barr said a supervisor advised Gilkey to not arrest the driver, but Gilkey proceeded to take the driver to the Dyer County Jail. In part, the letter to Gilkey said, “Your actions demonstrated a profound lack of judgment as well as your incompetence, insubordination, and unreasonable disregard.”

The second allegation came from District Attorney Danny Goodman. He has jurisdiction over Dyer and Lake Counties.

He wrote a letter to Chief Barr saying he could not prosecute any future criminal cases where Gilkey would have to testify. Goodman alleged Gilkey had repeatedly been dishonest with assistant district attorneys.

Goodman wrote about an example when Gilkey was asked to testify in a trial in Lake County last summer involving a defendant Gilkey arrested.

The letter said “[Gilkey] first responded that [he] had never been issued a subpoena to testify,” and Gilkey responded, saying he would be unavailable to appear “due to a family commitment.”

The assistant DA later found out Gilkey was subpoenaed weeks before and was at home when he was needed in court.

Gilkey’s certification was pushed to the May agenda for the POST Commission.

An attorney appeared on his behalf last week, asking for commissioners to accept Gilkey’s temporary surrendering of his certification until the matter is resolved.