In December 2022, an arbitrator held that Oklahoma City violated its contract with FOP Lodge 123 when it unilaterally transferred a bargaining unit member under investigation without good cause and without first negotiating with the FOP. The case began in April 2022, when 20-year veteran of the Oklahoma City Police Department Master Sergeant Wesley Morrison…
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…
Jacob Johnson worked as an Air Force firefighter at Dyess Air Force Base from 2017 to 2019. Around March 2018, Johnson’s mother came to live with Johnson and his family. She was then taking around 13 pills to treat various health issues. Around the same time, Johnson was also taking “seven or eight” pills a…
John Cummings is a lieutenant in the Bridgeport Police Department in Connecticut. On October 21, 2015, the City held an examination for promotion to lieutenant. Cummings ended up ranked tenth on the promotional list. On January 12, 2018, after being alerted to the possible expiration of the list by the president of the police union,…
Dan Bodle was an officer in the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department in Indiana. In August 2018, Bodle suffered an injury to his knees and shoulders in the line of duty, leaving him permanently disabled. He was placed on light duty during rehabilitation. His doctor later said he would not clear Bodle to return to…
The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 represents rank-and-file Philadelphia police employees. In March 2017 Philadelphia District Attorney, Seth Williams created a Police Misconduct Review Committee to identify Philadelphia police officers whose testimony should be avoided in criminal cases. As a result of the investigation, 66 officers who were accused of committing serious misconduct were…
Jason Briley worked for the City of West Covina as a deputy fire marshal. As deputy fire marshal, Briley oversaw the operations of the Fire Prevention Bureau, which included checking building code plans for Fire Code compliance, inspecting existing buildings for compliance, and conducting fire investigations. Briley was initially supervised by Larry Whithorn, then the…
Richard Roe was a veteran police officer who had served in different departments over about 17 years when he applied for a patrol officer position with the Department in July 2018. The Department, which the Court did not identify, is located within Marianne Lynch’s prosecutorial district in Penobscot County, Maine. During a polygraph examination conducted…
Three firefighters perished in a house fire that occurred on September 24, 2016 in the City of Wilmington, Delaware. Three other firefighters were badly injured in the same fire. The three injured firefighters – Firefighter Brad Speakman, Senior Firefighter Terrance Tate, and Lieutenant John Cawthray – as well as the estates and survivors of the…
Adam Procell is a sergeant with the Baker, Louisiana Police Department. When Procell and another officer responded to an alarm at a Baker charter school, they found an open door but no signs of criminal activity. As they were exiting the building, they heard approximately ten gunshots appearing to come from a distance of roughly…
Joseph Oquendo was a detective with the NYPD. Before he retired, Oquendo was arrested and charged with DWI. While the criminal charges were pending, NYPD denied Oquendo’s anticipatory application for a retired police officer handgun license. Had one been issued, Oquendo could have legally possessed a concealed handgun within New York City. Though a jury…
Jonathan Stevens was a police officer with the Town of West Terre Haute in Indiana. On October 31, 2017, Stevens was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and felony domestic battery committed in the presence of a child less than 16 years old. Prior to these charged crimes, Stevens had never been reprimanded or disciplined…
As part of the curriculum for the February 2018 Cleveland Police Academy, recruits were required to complete notebook assignments that they would periodically submit for grading. One component of the notebook entries that recruits had to complete is known as a “Student Performance Objective.” A Student Performance Objective is a short statement of policing standards.…
Gary Harris was the police chief of Algood, Tennessee, population 4,419. Justin Medlin and Vaughan Larson were officers in the Department. Larson and Medlin began a relationship and exchanged explicit messages over Facebook. Medlin was also engaged in romantic or sexual relationships with several other city employees, including City Councilwoman Jennifer Green. When Medlin sent…
Kevin Johanns was a firefighter with the City of Muncie, Indiana. Throughout his employment, he struggled to comply with the applicable rules and regulations. On numerous occasions between 2004 and 2010, Johanns reported late to work, called in sick repeatedly, and was given verbal and written reprimands. In 2012, Johanns was assigned to Battalion Chief…
Hosea Word is a sergeant and aspiring lieutenant in the Chicago Police Department. When he took the departmental lieutenants’ exam in 2006, he was ranked 150th of all candidates. The sergeants ranked 1 through 149 all received promotions. Sergeant Word was the highest-scoring candidate who did not. In 2015, when Word next took the exam,…
Good news is not on the way when a court starts its opinion in your case by writing: “A chance at a job is not a right to it. When the government has broad discretion to take a benefit away from its employees, that benefit is not a constitutionally protected property interest.” The case began…
In 2013, the Village of University Park, Illinois hired Eddie Bradley as its police chief. In the occasionally tumultuous world of small-town politics, this didn’t last long, and soon after a municipal election in 2015, the mayor and Village Board placed Bradley on administrative leave. The Village fired him 13 days later, without giving him…
Like most Supreme Court opinions, the procedural due process decision in Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532 (1985) is painted with a very broad brush. This has left it to the lower courts to more precisely define the amount of ‘process that is due’ under Loudermill. As illustrated by a Pennsylvania case,…
On November 1, 2013, Paul Moss was at home and off duty from his employment with the Shelby County Fire Department in Tennessee. His wife was attending a political rally at an interstate overpass on Quince Road in Memphis. The rally consisted of, among other things, participants holding a banner calling for the impeachment of…
The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, not always known for the brevity of its decisions, has recently used a case involving the termination of Spokane Police Chief Frank Straub as the vehicle to succinctly describe whether chiefs are entitled to due process upon their termination, and if so, when. Due process rights come in…
The City of Long Beach, New York and Local 287 of the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) are parties to a collective bargaining agreement. In November 2014, Local 287 member Jay Gusler reported that he was injured in the line of duty, and began what turned out to be a long-term absence from work. A…
Deborah Upchurch is a supervisor with the City of Orange Township, New Jersey. After an internal affairs investigation, the City issued Upchurch a written reprimand for insubordination. Upchurch challenged the reprimand, alleging it was issued without due process. An appeals court in New Jersey dismissed Upchurch’s claims. The Court began by citing the Supreme Court’s…
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…
John Gantert began working as a police officer in Rochester, New Hampshire in March 2005. For six years he was viewed as a “good and productive officer” and had no disciplinary actions reflected in his personnel file. Upon beginning his shift on March 24, 2011, Gantert was instructed to assist another officer in booking an…
