This article appears in the January 2023 issue of our monthly newsletter, Public Safety Labor News. Cincinnati residents may lodge police misconduct complaints with the City’s Citizen Complaint Authority. The Authority consists of a team of investigators, an executive director appointed by the city manager, and a seven-person board appointed by the mayor. In response…
Cincinnati residents may lodge police misconduct complaints with the City’s Citizen Complaint Authority. The Authority consists of a team of investigators, an executive director appointed by the city manager, and a seven-person board appointed by the mayor. In response to a complaint, the Authority conducts an investigation that usually includes interviews with the relevant officers,…
Lodge 93 of the Fraternal Order of Police represents two collective bargaining units at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department in Florida. One is made up of deputies and another of sergeants and corporals. On August 4, 2022, the Sheriff’s Negotiation Team presented a wage proposal to address several concerns raised by Lodge 93 in previous…
Sergeant Cardell Bright worked for the jail in St. James Parish, Louisiana. When Bright was hired in April 2015, he had a medical problem with his bowels, was recovering from rectal surgery, and was diabetic. Bright’s diabetes is sensitive to stress, which causes low blood sugar and, ultimately diarrhea. When Bright experiences diarrhea, his rectum…
Andrew Shouse was a captain with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office in California. In April or May of 2016, Chief Lyndon Wood learned of a rumored intimate relationship involving Shouse and Deputy Karen Birchard. The rumors indicated Birchard was saving photographs or text messages on her cell phone, which Wood feared would be used in…
Scott Millspaugh was a firefighter for Cobb County, Georgia. Millspaugh assisted with the scheduling of staff in his battalion and regularly discussed staffing with his Battalion Chief, John Graham, as part of his job duties. Millspaugh sometimes received notifications from other firefighters regarding their use of leave, and Millspaugh was responsible for finding another firefighter…
Steven Rodgers is a correctional sergeant with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in California. In 2018, the Department notified Rodgers that it was sustaining disciplinary charges against him and would be reducing his salary by 10% for two years. The Department alleged that while supervising a contraband surveillance watch shift, Rodgers refused to perform…
In 2020, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety terminated Christopher Stockli’s employment at the Pasquotank Correctional Institution. Stockli challenged his termination through a contested case in North Carolina’s Office of Administrative Hearings. An administrative law judge entered a final decision reinstating Stockli and awarding him back pay. That back pay award included his salary…
Jacob Donley is a police officer employed by the Village of West Salem in Wisconsin and is a member of the West Salem Police Association. In September 2020, Donley attended a work-related training event and was exposed to an individual who tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. As a result of this exposure, Donley’s police…
Tyler Sapp was a police officer for the Forest Preserves of Cook County in Illinois. Among other duties, Forest Preserves police officers are expected to respond to emergency calls for service and provide direction and assistance during emergencies such as serious illness or injury, severe weather, fires, and bomb threats. The Preserves’ job description requires…
Jeffrey Howell was a corrections officer for Essex County, Massachusetts. On January 2, 2018, Howell was working in the Essex County Correctional Facility when, in a different building, one inmate took another inmate hostage by holding a razor blade to his neck. An officer called Howell to help carry a metal footlocker downstairs so its…
Local 143 of the International Association of Firefighters represents firefighters employed by Everett, Massachusetts. Local 143 is the exclusive bargaining agent for all privates, lieutenants, captains, and deputy chiefs, excluding the fire chief, who holds a managerial position. When the fire chief position became vacant in 2018, the City informed Local 143 that it was…
From Illinois:Question: Several years ago the City bargained for random drug testing of police officers. The contract states: “Employees covered by this Agreement shall be subject to random drug testing, so long as all sworn Department members are subject to the same such testing.” This is where the problem begins. The Police Department’s command staff…
It’s a new year and the times, they are a-changin’ here at LRIS. In this month’s podcast:
