POULSBO — Poulsbo Police Chief Al Townsend said the female officer wanted to show him her “cool fingernails,” which she had painted with glow-in-the-dark polish. She then gave him a hug to thank him for trying to help her with a shift change, he said.

It was about 3 a.m. and his office lights were off when a reserve officer walked in. In retrospect, “I could have handled it better,” Townsend said Nov. 6.

The encounter, which occurred during the graveyard shift the night of the Poulsbo BlockParty (formerly the Poulsbo Street Dance), earned Townsend a verbal reprimand from Mayor Becky Erickson; any future similar incident would warrant a written reprimand and being placed on administrative leave, the mayor said.

The Herald is not naming the officer because she was not reprimanded.

The encounter occurred the evening of Aug. 8-9; the Herald learned of the reprimand on Nov. 6. The officer was assigned to the night shift; Townsend had worked during the block party and decided to stay on through the night because “I like to get out with the graveyard shift once a month,” he said.

Around 3 a.m. Aug. 9, he returned to his office to take a break, check his emails and read the news, he said. The only other persons in the station at that time, he said, were a reserve officer and a suspected drunken driver.

While he was in his office, a female officer assigned to the graveyard shift walked in, turned his office lights off and said, “Check out these cool fingernails,” Townsend said. He said he told her that she shouldn’t turn the lights off because “You don’t know what [someone’s] perception would be.” He said she “came over to my desk and gave me a hug to thank me for some help I had given her on some shift issues.”

Townsend said his office door remained open.

During the hug, the reserve officer walked in because “he wanted some help regarding the [alleged] DUI,” Townsend said. The reserve officer’s body camera was on.

Erickson said Townsend told her of the incident the next work day and she conducted “an internal investigation” and consulted the city’s attorney. The mayor viewed the body camera footage. “It was dark. You can’t see anything,” she said. “There is no evidence that anything [other than a hug] had occurred.” She said Townsend told her that he and the female officer were alone for about 30 seconds.

The mayor added, “It was an unfortunate situation. Apologies were meted out and that was it.”

Erickson said she told Townsend “it’s inappropriate for him to be in the dark with any officer, whether [the female officer] or one of the sergeants, that that was inappropriate … I gave him a verbal warning, that whatever occurred was not professional and should not occur again.”

Townsend added, “The appearance was bad because the light was off. It’s more of a perception issue.” The mayor called it a case of “bad judgment.”

Erickson said the city’s human resources director met with the officer, and that the officer was “embarrassed” by the incident.

The officer resigned on Nov. 2, effective Nov. 16, writing that working the night shift makes it difficult for her to spend time with her child. Townsend said the officer, who was sworn in as a Poulsbo police officer in May, has not been on duty since submitting her resignation and is taking comp time, overtime and vacation.

City human resources director Deanna Kingery said the officer has 151 total hours of vacation, holiday, sick and comp time accrued.

“My resignation has nothing to do with that incident,” the officer wrote in an e-mail to the Herald. “The Chief has been nothing but professional and kind to me.”