We probably will never know the true nature of the relationship between Shirley Moore and Rocky Mount Police Chief John Manley.

Moore says she had an affair with Manley that began in September, while she was a cadet in training to become a Rocky Mount police officer.

She says she became pregnant and that Manley paid for her to have an abortion. Then, she contends, Manley pressured her to resign in February after someone sent a letter to Manley's wife, outlining the details of the alleged affair.

Manley says there's nothing to any of that. He contends that some 140 phone calls the two made to each other during a four-month period were strictly business. If there's anything he's guilty of, he told Telegram staff writer Eric Klamut in March, "it's trying to help somebody."

The city manager's office announced last week that a two-month investigation found no evidence to support Moore's claims. A city management team talked with more than 40 people.

Moore, meanwhile, failed key parts of a polygraph test set up by a Raleigh television station. The city has officially closed the case. John Manley's name has been cleared.

She said. He said. They said.

I don't envy one bit the high profile that public officials like Manley carry with them, night and day. They wear a target for allegations of all types – the true, the untrue and the ridiculous – for as long as they hold office.

But I don't think the city's employee policies or the city's handling of this matter have done much to help Manley, Moore or any of the rest of us.

If Manley is completely innocent, then he deserves more than the public's skeptical reaction to an investigation conducted largely by people Manley has known for years. That's why the city should call for an independent look at the allegations by an outside agency.

In my view, that should be the city's automatic protocol whenever any key department head or leader comes under suspicion by someone who files a formal complaint.

It would do Rocky Mount and in this case, Manley, a world of good. Set a standard for the complaint, so we're not hiring a special prosecutor every time someone makes an anonymous phone call. But put those standards in writing and then follow them to the letter.

At the same time, the city should spell out the do's and don'ts of supervisor-employee relationships. As Klamut reported in March, the city has a policy regarding sexual harassment and nepotism, but not a specific policy on supervisors, employee relationships or interdepartmental dating.

That needs to change.

Any number of private companies, including Cox Newspapers, which owns the Rocky Mount Telegram, set the parameters for supervisor-employee relationships in no uncertain terms.

A supervisor is not allowed to date an employee in his or her department for very good reasons. If such a relationship turns sour, the employee can then make all sorts of claims about what he or she felt pressured to do by the supervisor in exchange for a promotion or a pay increase.

Those kinds of allegations put private companies on the hot seat for allowing such relationships to foster.

The city needs a policy that strictly forbids that kind of nonsense or at least sets a transfer procedure if such a relationship develops.

If Rocky Mount had had such a policy in place, we might not even be discussing this issue.

Finally, who knows what Moore's motives are in pursuing this? She may be an entirely innocent victim. She may simply be looking for a settlement.

The nice thing about policy is it revolves around principle, not people.

That kind of approach could go a long way toward sparing the city trouble with other Shirley Moores.

Jeff Herrin is the editor of the Rocky Mount Telegram. To give him some feedback or to read his views on other issues, check out his blog at rockymounttelegram.com.