Dana Harge is a patrol officer for the New York City Police Department. Harge sued his supervisors and NYPD, claiming his supervisors fabricated disciplinary actions against him, subjected him to heightened monitoring and scrutiny, issued him inappropriate “Command Discipline (CD),” and halted his promotional and career advancement because he is black. The federal Second Circuit…
From Rhode Island:Question: Are there any good resources (policies or cases) dealing withthe issue of legalized recreational marijuana and police in terms of any departmentsthat have proposed restrictions and any bargaining that has takenplace that would impact off-duty use? Answer: It’s still early yet, and no nationally reported cases so far. Thebig development has been…
Steve Jones was a supervisor for the paramedic program within the City of Loma Linda’s Fire Department in California. In January 2014, one of the employees who Jones supervised punched a patient. The employee told Jones about punching the patient. Jones failed to report the incident and when the incident came to light, Jones was…
When the Town of Kingston, Massachusetts lost an arbitration decision and was ordered to reinstate a member of the Kingston Police Superior Officers Union, the Town challenged the decision in the Massachusetts Court of Appeals. In a brief, three-page decision, the Court rejected the Town’s arguments. The Court began by accepting the Town’s basic argument…
Jeffrey Layman is a police officer in Peoria, Illinois. On January 10, 2018, the City received a complaint from a local pastor about social media posts made by Layman. One post showed a photo on social of Layman wearing a t-shirt with the word “POLICE” on it, under which were the letters “BDRT” and then…
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…
From Oklahoma:Question: Is there a reasonable amount of time the City has to administer discipline? Meaning if an incident took place approximately 11 months ago and they investigated it approximately two weeks after the incident. Normally punishment is rendered within a few weeks to a month (maybe two). This particular discipline was handed down approximately…
Delandro Washington is a police officer in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Department received a complaint from an individual concerning Washington. Washington and other witnesses were interviewed, and an internal affairs investigator prepared a report with his findings, which did not conclude that the complaints against Washington should be sustained. The IA report was sent to the…
For many years, FOP Lodge 12 has represented officers working for the Newark, New Jersey Police Department. The Newark Police Superior Officers’ Association (SOA) represents supervisors in the Department. When the City unilaterally implemented a disciplinary matrix, the FOP and the SOA filed unfair labor practice complaints with New Jersey’s Public Employment Relations Commission. PERC…
Sergeant Willie Jenkins works for the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD). On April 18, 2018, Jenkins, along with several other NOPD officers, responded to a call concerning an armed robbery. Attempting to locate and arrest the suspect, Detective Decynda Chambers spoke to the resident and obtained her verbal consent to enter the residence, upon which…
Lieutenant Elizabeth Ibarra works for the Milwaukee Police Department. She currently serves as the Municipal Lock-Up Facility Administrator for Central Booking and supervises about nine sergeants who supervise about 50 officers. She supervised Sergeant Salvador Hernandez, and in September 2019 prepared his annual evaluation. She then gave him almost all 5’s, which was the highest…
Robert Pitre is a New Orleans firefighter. On June 14, 2020, Pitre was working at Fire Station #24. Upon arrival, Captain Michael Ebbs directed Pitre to obtain his gear and proceed to the location of other firefighters who were responding to a fire. Captain Ebbs and Pitre were the only firefighters at the fire station.…
A case involving the termination of two Los Angeles Police Department officers contains one of the more unusual fact patterns in any reported police discipline case. Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell were working as partners on Saturday, April 15, 2017, assigned to a foot patrol beat. Their primary responsibilities included providing community services and addressing…
Roxanne Mathai was a lieutenant with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office in Texas. Mathai maintained a Facebook page that had photos of her in her Sheriff’s Office uniform. On January 7, 2021, the Sheriff’s Office learned from Mathai’s Facebook page that she had participated in the events at the Capitol on January 6. Mathai posted…
Corrections officers working for the State of New York Department of Corrections are represented by the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association. The Department began a disciplinary investigation into Sergeant Erik Rakoff, who worked at Sullivan Correctional Facility. The investigation centered around an incident where an inmate was injured during an escort…
When the collective bargaining agreement between the Village of River Forest in Illinois and the FOP expired in April 2019, the parties were unable to reach agreement on a new contract. In dispute was the system of appealing discipline. The prior labor agreements between the Village and the FOP excluded discipline from the coverage of…
Denise Watkins, who is African-American, was a shift supervisor for the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana. She reported to Lieutenant Marshall Carmouche, who reported to Sheriff Michael Tregre. On January 30, 2018 Carmouche commended Watkins and three other dispatchers for superb work. He recognized Watkins’s performance in an email to Sheriff…
Cliff Snider is a firefighter with the city of Pasadena, California. In 2009, and then again from 2011 forward, Snider was the president of the Pasadena Firefighters’ Association. In October 2014, Snider injured his back while trying to lift a patient during an emergency call. Although Snider initially felt well enough to remain on duty,…
Denise Doherty has been employed by the Massachusetts State Police Department for over 20 years. From 2007 to 2012, Doherty was assigned to the Department’s certification unit, which is responsible for providing licensing services for private security, or watch guard, companies. In October 2011, Doherty began an administrative inspection of a watch guard company referred…
Jimmie Turner was a lieutenant with the New Orleans Police Department. In an October 17, 2018 disciplinary letter, the Department suspended and then demoted Turner to a police sergeant classification after finding that he violated Policy 328 entitled “Workplace Discriminatory Harassment/Retaliation.” The discipline arose from a complaint lodged by Sergeant Peter Hansche. At the time…
Errol Cruz worked as a senior trooper for the Maryland State Police. In February 2018, his supervisor, Sergeant Torres, noticed that “he could not verify Cruz’s location” using a GPS device installed in Cruz’s patrol car and discovered that he was not able to log into the GPS device throughout Cruz’s shifts. Such GPS devices…
A New Jersey group calling itself Libertarians for Transparent Government obtained minutes of the March 12, 2018 Cumberland County Board Meeting of the Police and Fireman’s Retirement System (PFRS), reflecting the Board’s consideration of an application for special retirement by Tyrone Ellis, a corrections officer employed by the County at its correctional facility. The minutes…
Justin Chaplin, James Michels, and Frank Schonig are firefighters with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. In April 2014, they and four other candidates applied to be interviewed for three fire captain positions that had become available. Before the interviews, a battalion chief surreptitiously texted information to Chaplin, Michels and Schonig about the…
The Middlesex Sheriff’s Sergeants Association, FOP Lodge 59, filed a petition with New Jersey’s Public Employment Relations Commission to sever sergeants from the bargaining unit represented by Middlesex County Sheriff’s Superior Officers Association, PBA Local 165A. Since at least 1977, the PBA’s bargaining unit has included sergeants, lieutenants, and captains. When the PBA intervened in…
Eric Reamy was a sergeant with the Glen Rock Police Department in New Jersey. From 2011 to 2015, Reamy wrongfully and without authorization sold four rifles and three handguns that he improperly removed from the Department’s evidence locker. In 2015, Reamy was the juvenile officer for the Department. He began sexting on his work cellphone…
