Luis Suarez was two weeks into his three-month probationary period as a newly promoted sergeant in the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Office in New Jersey when he lied about being sick so he could attend a wedding after having been denied permission to switch shifts with another officer. Although Suarez, a ten-year officer with an unblemished…
Jeffrey Wolfe worked as a police officer for the City of Town and Country Police Department in Missouri for more than 26 years. One of the officers he supervised was Lauren Becker, who later became his wife. Wolfe was demoted from sergeant to corporal in April of 2017 following an investigation into his relationship with…
Samuel Joseph was the police chief for the City of Atwater, California. Joseph’s employment agreement stated he was an at-will employee who could be removed as police chief for any reason but, if the removal was not for willful misconduct, he had the option of continuing his employment by returning to the position of police…
From New York:Question: I have a union member that took a voluntary demotion due to some misconduct. The settlement agreement which was signed does not indicate a deduction or reduced pay, it just states the member will be demoted from sergeant to deputy. The County failed to reduce the member’s pay when the demotion happened…
Edward Marquez worked for the County of Los Angeles for approximately 20 years as an officer for the Los Angeles County Office of Public Safety. When that agency merged into the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Marquez was conditionally offered the position of deputy sheriff, provided he could establish that he was qualified for the…
Tiffany Washington, an African American woman, served as a sergeant in the Metro Transit Police Department from 2008 to 2016. The Department is a unit of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), which operates trains and buses in and around the District of Columbia. Washington worked at WMATA’s Revenue Collection Facility in Alexandria, Virginia,…
Shaun Sundahl worked for the Calexico, California Police Department as a sergeant. The City terminated Sundahl for three incidents: (1) Sundahl’s order that a subordinate officer use a taser to control a burglary suspect who was attempting to escape into Mexico by wading through a polluted river; (2) Sundahl’s handling of a high-tension confrontation with…
In 2008, when the City of Charlotte, North Carolina Metropolitan Police Department selected Tammy Hatley and 38 other sergeants for the position “Response Area Commander,” (RAC) it held a ceremony which it called a “promotion ceremony.” At the ceremony, all 39 sergeants were presented by the Department with insignia indicating that they had been promoted…
In the summer of 2010, Lawrence Township, Indiana was in serious discussions with the City of Indianapolis regarding the Lawrence Township Fire Department merging with the Indianapolis Fire Department. Before any merger could take place, however, the Township had to make certain adjustments to the ranks of its officers. Indianapolis was willing to accept only…
Robin Hoey joined Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department in 1985. Over the next nineteen years, he was progressively promoted to the positions of lieutenant, captain, inspector, and, in 2004, to commander of the Department’s Sixth District. On April 19, 2007, newly-appointed Chief of Police Cathy Lanier informed Hoey that she was returning him to the…
Dan Dixon was employed as a lieutenant by the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Police Department. In June 2009, at the conclusion of an internal department investigation into allegations that Dixon had falsified timekeeping records and manipulated a subordinate officer’s work schedule, the Police Chief recommended that Dixon’s employment be terminated by the City. On June 24,…
Randolph Starling was a captain with the Palm Beach County, Florida Fire Rescue Department. In May 2005, he arranged to have Carolyn Smith, another firefighter, transferred to his fire station as his subordinate. Sometime during the next few months, Smith and Starling – then married but separated from his wife – began an intimate relationship.…
William Carlberg was a lieutenant with the New Hampshire Bureau of Highway Patrol and Enforcement. In 2007, Carlberg was deployed to active duty by the United States National Guard. While he was deployed, the Department reorganized, moving the Highway Patrol from the Division of Motor Vehicles into the Division of State Police. A collective bargaining…
James Thomas began working as a trooper for the Maryland State Police (MSP) in 1971. After he suffered a series of panic attacks while on the road from 1978 to 1980, he was transferred to MSP’s Automotive Safety Enforcement Division, after which the panic attacks ceased. In 2000, MSP adopted new procedures for the auditing…
