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…
James MacColl, a police officer with Wilmington, Delaware, shot a fleeing carjacking suspect in 2019. During the resulting deadly force investigation, MacColl turned in his Department-issued gun for testing. The ballistics results showed a mismatch between the grooves on the test rounds and the grooves on the bullets recovered from the scene. Closer inspection revealed…
Parties to contracts such as labor agreements can choose to substitute arbitration for a court resolution of contractual disputes. With two notable exceptions, final and binding arbitration of grievances is just that: final and binding. As the Supreme Court held in United Steelworkers of America v. Enterprise Wheel & Car Corp., 363 U.S. 593 (1960),…
Brad Sandefur was a corrections officer for the Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois. He suffers from disk desiccation in his spine and osteoarthritis in his knees. Both conditions can cause intermittent pain for weeks at a time. In 2011, Sandefur applied for and received a handicapped parking placard from the Illinois Secretary of State. His…
In May 2012 Valent Maxwell, a police officer for the City of Klawock, Alaska, accepted a law enforcement job in Fairview, Montana. He left some belongings in his city-owned apartment in Klawock, sold some, and moved or shipped the rest to Montana. Shortly after starting the new job, however, he quit, finding his salary inadequate…
A long opinion from the North Carolina Court of Appeals may have put to rest an 11-year saga involving Trooper Thomas Wetherington. The Court’s opinion begins on a bit of a philosophical note: “It is unlikely so many lawyers have ever before written so many pages because of a lost hat. True, hats have caused…
Lamark Ferguson, who is African-American, is an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. Around midnight on the evening of August 18, 2014, while Ferguson was off-duty and returning home from a family function, he drove to a rental property in South Los Angeles that he owned and was renovating. Ferguson was driving his black…
Tia Smith was a corrections officer with the Camden County Department of Corrections in New Jersey. In the years following her hire in 2011, Smith displayed a variety of performance problems. Most significantly, Smith was found to have engaged in conduct unbecoming and neglect of duty in 2015. She lied during that investigation, and the…
Deputy Mark Montez worked as a corrections officer for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. On September 27, 2010, Dequan Ballard, an inmate in the jail, stole items from a commissary cart. The theft was reported to Deputy Omar Lopez, who informed Montez. Lopez and Montez took Ballard to an elevator landing to strip search…
Jose F. Valencia sued the Santa Fe Police Officers Association for breach of duty of fair representation. Valencia requested that the Association challenge his termination for dishonesty in arbitration. The Association’s Board scheduled a meeting on February 16, 2010, to consider the request. Two Board members, the President and the former President, recused themselves from…
Thomas Swiech sustained an established injury to his neck in 2007 in the course of his employment as a firefighter for the City of Lackawanna, New York. In 2008, he had cervical fusion surgery and retired, and in 2010 he had lumbar surgery. In 2016, the City’s workers’ compensation carrier conducted an independent medical exam…
A limited public policy exception exists to the principle that arbitration decisions are final and binding. If an arbitrator’s award violates a well-established and unequivocal public policy, the arbitrator’s decision may be overturned. Most often in the public safety world the public policy exception is debated in cases involving the reinstatement of employees who have…
On November 22, 2014, Cleveland Police Officer Timothy Loehmann shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice. The shooting sparked protests, national media attention, visits to Cleveland by the U.S. Attorney General and a criminal investigation by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation. When…
From New Mexico Question: Where in the FLSA does it say that work hours can’t be adjusted to avoid the payment of overtime? Answer: The FLSA’s rules are pretty specific. Under the FLSA, an employer cannot adjust the start of the employee’s FLSA work week or work period for the purposes of avoiding overtime. However,…
Shawn King was a corrections officer with the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC). In 2009 or 2010, King’s brother and sister-in-law gave him their dog, Sophie. They told King that they would take Sophie back at any time if King could no longer care for her. In 2013, King took Sophie to the Payette City…
The Town of West Bridgewater, Massachusetts terminated Daniel Desmond from the position of police officer for his “continued pattern of lying/perjury and conduct unbecoming a police officer.” The charges against him arose out of his relationship with a married woman referred to as Mrs. A. Ultimately, Mrs. A. completed an application for a restraining order…
On December 2, 2013, a complainant alleged that an officer of the Hutchinson, Kansas Police Department had arrested her in late November for a DUI violation. The complainant said that the officer later telephoned her at home, sent her several text messages, and generally engaged in harassing conduct. The Department interviewed the officer, who admitted…
In August 2011, Valinda Carter, a dispatcher for the Columbia County, Florida Sheriff’s Department, was at home when she received a phone call from her brother. Columbia County Deputy Sheriff Joshua Latimer had just stopped Carter’s brother for a traffic violation. The apparent purpose of the brother’s call was to maintain an “open line” so…
Maintaining the public’s trust is as synonymous with law enforcement as the slogan “to protect and serve.” A sustained allegation of untruthfulness has long been regarded a career killer for police officers. Recent years have seen a significant impact from Brady v. Maryland, the U.S. Supreme Court case that requires prosecutors to disclose exculpatory evidence…
Law enforcement recruits are often told that the one disciplinary offense that will not be tolerated is dishonesty. “You lie, you die” is a common parlance in many police academies. In practice, the rule has become less and less clear-cut. Many courts, arbitrators and civil service boards tend to see gradations of untruthfulness. To be…
Thomas C. Wetherington was employed as a trooper with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. In 2009, Wetherington was fired for violating the Patrol’s policies on untruthfulness. After a variety of appeals, the matter ended up in the North Carolina Court of Appeals. The Court started with the proposition that under North Carolina law, “determining…
Richard Urich, a member of Local 2156 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, is a firefighter-paramedic for the City of North Royalton, Ohio. On April 17, 2010, Urich and two other firefighters were dispatched to assist a resident suffering an apparent seizure. Upon arriving at the scene, they were informed by the patient’s wife…
After serving for 26 years with the New York City Police Department and for brief stints with the U.S. Mint Police and the U.S. Federal Protective Service, Joseph O’Rourke joined the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department in 2001. He was then 52 years old. O’Rourke was assigned to the Third District, where he served…
In July 2005, an Alaska state trooper attended an out-of-state motorcycle certification program. Upon arrival at the program, the trooper was informed of a rule against horseplay such as performing “burnouts” with a motorcycle. It was later discovered that a student had performed a burnout with one of the motorcycles. At first, when he was…
Archie Story was a Tennessee highway trooper. In 2006, Story heard over his radio that the Gibson County Sheriff’s Department was involved in the pursuit of a vehicle. Story went to the general area to be able to assist. Story stopped at a location ahead of the pursuit and retrieved his “stop sticks,” a tire…
