Adrian Rodriguez became a Miami police officer in 2007. In 2012, the City’s homicide unit received a tip that Rodriguez’s brother and father may have been involved in a homicide in 2007. In 2013, based on the results of an Internal Affairs investigation, Rodriguez was relieved of duty with pay. While on relieved-duty, Rodriguez was observed violating the terms of his relieved-duty status. In 2016, the City terminated Rodriguez….
On November 13, 2018, the City of Virden, Illinois served a notice of termination on a dispatcher by the name of Ibberson. The notice detailed four reasons for termination: (1) that Ibberson had encouraged another dispatcher to disregard telephone calls from the Department and had informed him of the date and time when she planned to call in sick; (2) by engaging in “insubordination or mutinous activity” by encouraging…
Isaiah Cardinale was an officer with the police department in Nutley Township, New Jersey. In December 2013, Cardinale submitted to a random drug test. Two days later, Cardinale admitted to using cocaine. The Department immediately suspended him pending the results of the test, and Cardinale successfully completed drug and alcohol treatment in Florida. In February 2014, the toxicology report demonstrated that he had tested positive for cocaine. The Department…
Tamela Muir, Bert Muir, and Ben Boswell worked for the Decatur County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) in Iowa. Tamela began working for the DCSO in November 1996 as a jailer and dispatcher. Her employment was at-will. Bert started working for the DCSO on March 19, 1998, when he was elected Sheriff. He hired Boswell as a Deputy Sheriff in September 2001. Tamela and Bert were married in January 2008, and…
Judith Diaz was a deputy sheriff with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. On October 13, 2011, Diaz went out for drinks with a friend and fellow deputy, Stephanie Hile. The two were joined by a third deputy, Adrienne Myers. The three had drinks at two different locations until closing time. All three left in Hile’s car. According to Diaz, Myers was driving. Myers said that Hile was driving;…
Teamsters Local 261 represents the corrections officers working for Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. Before being represented by Local 261, the bargaining unit was represented by the Laborers Union, which disclaimed interest in the bargaining unit on January 19, 2017, following expiration of the collective bargaining agreement on December 31, 2016. Corrections officer Kevin Boston was instrumental in the bargaining unit affiliating with Local 261 and served on Local 261’s bargaining…
Fortunato Montella is a police officer with the Borough of Stanhope in New Jersey. On September 2, 2014, Montella was conducting routine traffic stops in the Borough. After completing this assignment, he intended to drive his patrol car to the Borough-approved car wash in Roxbury, which was about 1.5 miles away. After that, he planned to take his lunch break. Montella’s sister called him as he was in the…
Following his assignment to Troop M of the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP), Trooper Craig Acord became romantically involved with Trooper Rachel Jones. After their relationship ended in 2014, Jones filed several complaints against Acord, alleging harassing behavior. As a result, Acord was issued a Supervisor’s Notation instructing him to cease communications with Trooper Jones and was the subject of two internal and Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) investigations relating to…
On December 3, 2013, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn discharged Detective Rodolfo Gomez for violating departmental rules stemming from his use of force during an interrogation. The next day, Gomez filed a notice of appeal of his discharge with Milwaukee’s Board of Fire and Police Commissioners. On December 6, the Board issued a scheduling notice requiring the parties to identify witnesses and exhibits, stating that the time of trial…
Jacqueline Lewis, an African-American police detective in Union City, Georgia, was terminated abruptly from her position in 2010, after about ten years of service. In January 2009, Lewis suffered a small heart attack. The episode was unusual in that a cardiac catheterization showed “no clot and no disease” in Lewis’s heart, although heart attacks generally are caused by a “clot inside the coronary arteries.” And while Dr. Arshed Quyyami,…
Maryland’s Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights provides that if “an investigation or interrogation of a law enforcement officer results in a recommendation of an action that is considered punitive, the law enforcement officer is entitled to a hearing on the issues by a hearing board before the law enforcement agency takes that action.” The question of what amounts to “punitive” action triggering the Bill of Rights was the…
The start of a recent federal court of appeals opinion involving Officer Anthony Rodriguez of the City of Doral, Florida Police Department set the stage for a rare court decision finding that an employee’s resignation could be a “constructive termination”: “In this case, Anthony Rodriguez, who was employed as a police officer with the City of Doral, alleges that Doral and its mayor, Juan Carlos Bermudez, arranged for Rodriguez’s…
Doug Greisen was the police chief for Scappoose, Oregon. Greisen brought this lawsuit against Defendant Jon Hanken, the Scappoose City Manager. Greisen became concerned about Hanken’s management of the City’s overall budget. Greisen voiced his concern to several people outside his chain of command, including City Councilor Judi Ingham. In addition to discussing his specific concerns about the Police Department’s budget, Greisen discussed with Councilor Ingham matters concerning Hanken’s…
Matthew Cummings was the Police Chief for Newton, Massachusetts. Cummings worked under an employment contract, which specified that any dispute concerning his “termination of employment…shall be resolved exclusively by arbitration under the Voluntary Labor Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association.” The agreement also specified that “the arbitrator’s decision, if in accordance with law, shall be final and binding upon the parties.” When the City terminated Cummings for conduct…
Brandon Coker and Michael Golden were sheriff’s deputies in Bossier Parish, Louisiana. When Chief Deputy Sheriff Owens learned in late October 2014 that Coker and Golden had each taken up residence in the other’s house, exchanging spouses without having divorced their current wives, they were placed on administrative leave for violating the Sheriff’s Code of Conduct. The Code includes the obligation to: “Conduct yourselves at all times in such…
Steven Harris is a correctional officer at Maury Correctional Institution, a North Carolina state prison. Harris was working the night shift on February 5, 2015, and was assigned to the “Gray Unit,” which housed the prison’s segregation cell block. Inmate Christopher Walls placed his feces into a plastic bag and placed the bag into the toilet, which caused water to leak onto the floor. Walls then poured the feces…
A basic tenet of the principle of “just cause” for discipline is that public safety employees are expected to follow the instructions of their supervisors, except if doing so would result in the employee unnecessarily endangering his/her safety or in violating the law. A recent case from Mississippi shows that in a non-union environment – where the principles of “just cause” do not apply – following a supervisor’s instructions…
Glen Naghtin was a firefighter for the Montague, Michigan Fire Department. Two brothers, Donald and Dennis Roesler, also worked for the Department. Donald was a unit captain and Dennis was the Fire Chief. In 2009, the Fire District’s Board authorized the construction of a new fire station. After construction had commenced, Donald Roesler began expressing concerns about the structure, including numerous fire-code violations and deviations from the station’s planned…
Occasionally, employees with a pattern of misbehavior enter into “last-chance” agreements in lieu of termination. Under those agreements, an employer agrees not to terminate an employee for whatever the employee’s current offense is, and the employee agrees that a finding of future misconduct will result in the loss of the employee’s job. Fox Lake, Illinois Police Officer Tom Olson got to his last-chance agreement in a different manner. Olson…
Richard Orosco was employed as a Los Angeles County deputy sheriff from 2001 to 2008. In September 2007, officers from the Long Beach Police Department responded to a domestic violence call at the home where he lived with his girlfriend, Veronica Hernandez, and their infant son. The officers determined that Hernandez was the aggressor and arrested her. The police report contained her statement that Orosco was taking illegal steroids…
On January 21, 2008, while working for the Massachusetts Department of Correction, Mark Marchand sustained a knee injury when he intervened to protect a fellow employee from an assault by an inmate. As a result of the injury, Marchand began to receive workers’ compensation benefits as well as an enhanced benefit known as “assault pay.” Eventually, the Department determined that Marchand was medically unfit for duty and separated him…
Jonathan Sprague was a captain with the Spokane Valley, Washington Fire Department. Sprague formed the Spokane Christian Firefighters Fellowship, and in 2011 began distributing newsletters and meeting notices for that group via the Department’s e-mail system. Sprague’s messages concerning Fellowship meetings often contained scriptural passages and mentioned the topics being discussed at the meetings. The Department responded by reminding Sprague that its e-mail system was to be used for…
The opinion of the Montana Supreme Court in a case involving Colstrip Police Chief Larry Reinlasoder starts off with a bang: “‘You ain’t getting s––– for Christmas! I’ve just examined your computer and it’s full of porn, you f pervert,’ read a captioned picture of Santa Claus attached to a December 2007 office email from Reinlasoder, one of many instances of misconduct cited by Colstrip when it discharged Reinlasoder…
Matthew Cummings was the Chief of Police for the City of Newton, Massachusetts. Allegations of misconduct came to the attention of the Mayor, who retained an outside contractor to undertake an investigation. When it received his report, the City filed five charges of conduct unbecoming a police chief. At a pre-disciplinary hearing, Cummings called three witnesses, offered no exhibits, and did not testify. The hearing officer found that Cummings…
Shania Miller was a correctional officer at the Maryland Reception, Diagnostic & Classification Center. As a requirement of her employment, she held a certification from the Correctional Training Commission. In 2010, Warden Solomon Hejirka of the Center terminated Miller’s employment after he learned that Miller was engaged in a sexual relationship with an inmate. With the termination came the loss of her corrections certificate. Miller challenged her termination, and…
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