From Nevada Question: An officer was a suspect in a criminal investigation. He voluntarily gave detectives an interview/verbal statement under Miranda (not in custody) – while admitting to being “buzzed” (slightly intoxicated). The criminal case was submitted but never approved for prosecution. During the IA (administrative investigation), the officer was interviewed (as subject officer under […]
Timothy Larios was an officer with the California Highway Patrol (CHP) and was assigned to the Shasta Interagency Narcotics Task Force. He was issued a cell phone by the CHP, and he also had a personal cell phone. In September 2014, CHP removed Larios from his position and told him that he was the subject […]
Patrick Leonard and Steven Barrett are Los Angeles firefighters. After they failed a psychological exam and were transferred out of the Arson Counter Terrorism Section, they sued the City claiming violations of due process and the California Peace Officer and Firefighter Procedural Bill of Rights Acts. The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the […]
Victoria Zetwick is a correctional officer with Yolo County, California. Zetwick sued the County, alleging that Sheriff Edward Prieto created a sexually hostile work environment by, among other things, greeting her with unwelcome hugs and/or kisses on more than one hundred occasions over a twelve-year period. A trial court granted the County’s motion to dismiss […]
Scott Niles had been a firefighter with the Houston Fire Department for four months when a series of events happened that led to his criminal conviction of making a “terroristic threat.” It all started on April 29, 2014, when Captain Bradley Maddin became aware that Niles did not have a valid driver’s license. Maddin brought […]
There is no statewide collective bargaining law for police in Colorado. As such, local jurisdictions bargaining with police unions – if they do so at all – act under local charter or ordinance provisions. Denver’s charter contains one of the longest-standing grants of bargaining rights. The charter is limited, however, as to what topic must […]
The Police Officers Labor Council (POLC) represents a bargaining unit comprised of police command officers employed by the Township of Van Buren, Michigan. The POLC and the Township were parties to a collective bargaining agreement in effect from January 1, 2010, through December 31, 2013. Section 1 of Article XXI contained the following provision: “The […]
In November 2012, thirteen police officers engaged in a high-speed car chase in Cleveland, Ohio. When the car finally came to a stop, the officers fired 139 bullets into the vehicle, killing the two African-American suspects inside. The media started reporting the story, framing it as twelve Caucasian officers and one Hispanic officer shooting and […]
Christina Jones worked as a correctional officer at the Indiana Department of Correction’s Henryville Correctional Facility. Henryville is a minimum security male prison facility, housing between 170 and 200 inmates and employing 34 custody staff. Of the 34 custody staff, 28 were male. In 2011, custody staff were scheduled on a monthly basis, with a […]
Richard Orosco was employed as a Los Angeles County deputy sheriff from 2001 to 2008. In September 2007, officers from the Long Beach Police Department responded to a domestic violence call at the home where he lived with his girlfriend, Veronica Hernandez, and their infant son. The officers determined that Hernandez was the aggressor and […]
Most cases under Garrity v. New Jersey arise in the course of a criminal prosecution, where the question is whether the statements of a public employee are immunized because the statements were compelled as a condition of employment. Occasionally, a court will consider a case – as put recently by a Maryland appeals court – […]
