Any advice?

[KYLVetCop]

I work in a medium sized town, have been on the job for over 22 years. Department is 14 sworn. A few years ago, I had a call to a residence -- some guy was calling AAA to have a car moved, drunk. Arrived on scene and tried to figure out the story, since he wasn't the resident -- he told me that he was a guest of the resident. So I had him wake up the resident (a lawyer in town) and his wife to verify that he was allowed to be there. The resident offered to take him inside to bed, but I was already annoyed with the guy, so we cited for alcohol intox and disorderly and took the guy to jail.

Fast forward, and the resident got elected to the city council later that year -- a buddy of mine on the city council tells me that he mentioned something about being upset with me for the incident, but I didn't think anything of it.

Fast forward two years, and the same guy took on the mayor who had been there 17 years and won. The chief was also serving additional duty as the city manager and he resigned to take a job with the county when the new mayor came in -- the rumors were that the new mayor showed him the door, but also helped him get a job at the county. The new mayor is really good friends with the county prosecutor, and I might have gotten into a few arguments over the years with the prosecutor so that isn't helpful.

I figured that the new mayor would hire within, I wanted the chief's job, and suggested at the january city council meeting that he needed to appoint an interim chief (there are two sergeants on the department). The mayor said he didn't want to do that and would hire the new chief quickly, and we had a bit of an argument at the meeting. It got back to me that the new mayor was really ****ed that I went against what he wanted to do at the city council meeting.

In any event, after the chief left, I basically ordered some new patches for the PD and some new dress white uniform shirts for the department -- I probably should have told the mayor about it, since I needed his signature for the order under city purchasing policies, but we'd been talking about it as a department for a year and I just went ahead with the order since I didn't really want to see the Mayor and have him get more upset with me.

The new Mayor promoted a patrolman over both of us sergeants as captain and interim chief and said that all uniform changes were on hold. He came in and set down a bunch of rules for the department at the same time in January (told the guys to stop hanging out at the local gas station for hours at a time). As for the uniforms, I figured that didn't include orders that were already placed. Then he hired a new chief from outside the department.

Then the new chief found out about the orders and asked me to provide a written statement. I messed up and said that the old chief authorized it (the old chief knew we were going there but didn't actually authorize the purchase). Then the Mayor and new Chief got a sworn statement from the old chief that he didn't authorize the purchase the next day (I didn't have time to get in touch with the old chief before they got the statement). The new Chief and Captain have some sort of IA investigation going. I think I'm in big trouble.

Does anyone see a way to avoid losing my career over this or have any ideas about what to do? I know I made a mistake with the statement. I just don't know what to do to get out of this and it doesn't help that the Mayor really doesn't like me. We don't have civil service, but do have PO bill of rights.

[Redders]

No offense intended but you shouldn't have tried to CYA by saying the old chief authorized the uniforms. You had to had to have known the new admin would go to the old chief. Frankly you had better get a lawyer that specializes in LEO employment on retainer and let him do the talking.

[pujolsfan146]

What a frigging mess. Best of luck to you. As noted earlier I would find a good attorney.

[ddurkof]

In Texas you are pretty well gone. You committed perjury in your written statement. You may have committed a crime if you were not authorized spend city funds. Your only option at this point is to hire a good lawyer and see what your options are. Good luck, but you really screwed up on this one and it had nothing to do with arresting the guy.

[mikeymedic]

Sorry brother I hope you have a good union lawyer or FOP lawyer.

[L-1]

I won't sugarcoat it. Based on your description of things, I see unemployment in your future. Here's how this situation might be viewed from a management perspective:

The Mayor is responsible for overall management of city government, As such, it is his backside on the line if things go wrong. Pursuant to these responsibilities, he has the authority to issue orders and formulate policies governing the operation of city departments and personnel matters, provided that he acts within the law and the city charter.

In keeping with this authority, the Mayor declined your recommendation to appoint you or another sergeant as interim chief and said he would immediately hire a new department head from the outside. Rather than accept that this was within his discretionary decision making authority, you chose to publicly challenge his decision at a city council meeting.

Although you lacked the authority to do so without the Mayor's signature, you took it upon yourself to order new patches for the department. This is a misappropriation of city funds. When the Mayor announced that all uniform changes were on hold, rather than undo the damage by canceling the order, or notifying him of what you had done, you remained silent. When your actions were discovered, you not only lied about your reasons for doing so, but you falsified a public document (a felony in my state). This was subsequently discovered by the Mayor and new Chief.

Let's take a look at these issues:

1. As a subordinate you publicly challenged the Mayor's decision not to appoint you or the other sergeant as interim Chief and to go outside the department for a new Chief. Although you know you were not authorized to order uniform items without the Mayor's authorization, you did so anyway. When he told you uniform changes were on hold, you made no effort to correct your mistake.

In doing these things, you attempted to place yourself in a position of artificial authority over the Mayor to which you were not entitled. As such, you denied him the ability to regulate that for which he was accountable as Mayor and undermined his authority. This is unacceptable. As a 22 year employee not only should you have know better, but your actions created the appearance that you are a loose cannon who is running his own program. From a management point of view you are a cancer that needs to be removed, not only for the health of the body, but to serve as a warning to others.

2. With respect to the misappropriation of public funds, if the amount is over the threshold for a felony, you would be looking at automatic loss of your state peace officer certification.

3. Even more troubling is the dishonesty issue. Lying about your reasons for purchasing the patches and placing that lie in writing in a public document truly spells the end. In my state, falsification of a public document is a felony (again, an instant disqualifier). In addition, we have the issue of you becoming a Brady officer. Under Brady vs. Maryland, evidence affecting the credibility of the police officer as a witness may be exculpatory evidence and should be given to the defense during discovery. Indeed, evidence that the officer has had in his personnel file a sustained finding of untruthfulness is clearly exculpatory to the defense. In short, your usefulness as a future witness at trial has just been tainted because of your untruthfulness in this matter. In my state, we routinely fire officers for untruthfulness because as Brady officers, they are no longer of value to the stand.

As the others have said, hire good legal counsel. At best you might be looking at a negotiated resignation with no mention of this in your file and a stipulated agreement that the department and all city personnel will merely confirm your dates of service, salary and rank at time of separation and decline to comment in any further manner on your employment.

Best of luck.

[oneoldcop]

Agreed, better hire a very good attorney and hope that you can keep your retirement intact.

[mikeymedic]

I work in a medium sized town, have been on the job for over 22 years. Department is 14 sworn. A few years ago, I had a call to a residence -- some guy was calling AAA to have a car moved, drunk. Arrived on scene and tried to figure out the story, since he wasn't the resident -- he told me that he was a guest of the resident. So I had him wake up the resident (a lawyer in town) and his wife to verify that he was allowed to be there. The resident offered to take him inside to bed, but I was already annoyed with the guy, so we cited for alcohol intox and disorderly and took the guy to jail.

Fast forward, and the resident got elected to the city council later that year -- a buddy of mine on the city council tells me that he mentioned something about being upset with me for the incident, but I didn't think anything of it.

Fast forward two years, and the same guy took on the mayor who had been there 17 years and won. The chief was also serving additional duty as the city manager and he resigned to take a job with the county when the new mayor came in -- the rumors were that the new mayor showed him the door, but also helped him get a job at the county. The new mayor is really good friends with the county prosecutor, and I might have gotten into a few arguments over the years with the prosecutor so that isn't helpful.

I figured that the new mayor would hire within, I wanted the chief's job, and suggested at the january city council meeting that he needed to appoint an interim chief (there are two sergeants on the department). The mayor said he didn't want to do that and would hire the new chief quickly, and we had a bit of an argument at the meeting. It got back to me that the new mayor was really ****ed that I went against what he wanted to do at the city council meeting.

In any event, after the chief left, I basically ordered some new patches for the PD and some new dress white uniform shirts for the department -- I probably should have told the mayor about it, since I needed his signature for the order under city purchasing policies, but we'd been talking about it as a department for a year and I just went ahead with the order since I didn't really want to see the Mayor and have him get more upset with me.

The new Mayor promoted a patrolman over both of us sergeants as captain and interim chief and said that all uniform changes were on hold. He came in and set down a bunch of rules for the department at the same time in January (told the guys to stop hanging out at the local gas station for hours at a time). As for the uniforms, I figured that didn't include orders that were already placed. Then he hired a new chief from outside the department.

Then the new chief found out about the orders and asked me to provide a written statement. I messed up and said that the old chief authorized it (the old chief knew we were going there but didn't actually authorize the purchase). Then the Mayor and new Chief got a sworn statement from the old chief that he didn't authorize the purchase the next day (I didn't have time to get in touch with the old chief before they got the statement). The new Chief and Captain have some sort of IA investigation going. I think I'm in big trouble.

Does anyone see a way to avoid losing my career over this or have any ideas about what to do? I know I made a mistake with the statement. I just don't know what to do to get out of this and it doesn't help that the Mayor really doesn't like me. We don't have civil service, but do have PO bill of rights.

[Iowa #1603]

Get a lawyer.

I work in a medium sized town, have been on the job for over 22 years. Department is 14 sworn. A few years ago, I had a call to a residence -- some guy was calling AAA to have a car moved, drunk. Arrived on scene and tried to figure out the story, since he wasn't the resident -- he told me that he was a guest of the resident. So I had him wake up the resident (a lawyer in town) and his wife to verify that he was allowed to be there. The resident offered to take him inside to bed, but I was already annoyed with the guy, so we cited for alcohol intox and disorderly and took the guy to jail.

Nothing wrong so far

Fast forward, and the resident got elected to the city council later that year -- a buddy of mine on the city council tells me that he mentioned something about being upset with me for the incident, but I didn't think anything of it.

Indicator #1 that trouble will follow

Fast forward two years, and the same guy took on the mayor who had been there 17 years and won. The chief was also serving additional duty as the city manager and he resigned to take a job with the county when the new mayor came in -- the rumors were that the new mayor showed him the door, but also helped him get a job at the county.

Indicator s #2 & #3 that trouble will follow

The new mayor is really good friends with the county prosecutor, and I might have gotten into a few arguments over the years with the prosecutor so that isn't helpful.

Need I say Indicator #4 that a whole lot of trouble will follow

I figured that the new mayor would hire within, I wanted the chief's job, and suggested at the january city council meeting that he needed to appoint an interim chief (there are two sergeants on the department). The mayor said he didn't want to do that and would hire the new chief quickly, and we had a bit of an argument at the meeting. It got back to me that the new mayor was really ****ed that I went against what he wanted to do at the city council meeting.

After working in the town for 22 yrs ------------and hearing that the Mayor was ticked at you for the old arrest/citation -------and knowing his best buddy the CA really had problems with your -------did you really think he was going to promote you………………..AFTER “firing” the old chief?

In any event, after the chief left, I basically ordered some new patches for the PD and some new dress white uniform shirts for the department -- I probably should have told the mayor about it, since I needed his signature for the order under city purchasing policies, but we'd been talking about it as a department for a year and I just went ahead with the order since I didn't really want to see the Mayor and have him get more upset with me.

So you violated policy because you didn’t want the mayor upset with you?

The new Mayor promoted a patrolman over both of us sergeants as captain and interim chief and said that all uniform changes were on hold. He came in and set down a bunch of rules for the department at the same time in January (told the guys to stop hanging out at the local gas station for hours at a time).

ALL changes on hold……………..I would figure that meant ALL changes

As for the uniforms, I figured that didn't include orders that were already placed. Then he hired a new chief from outside the department.

Then the new chief found out about the orders and asked me to provide a written statement. I messed up and said that the old chief authorized it (the old chief knew we were going there but didn't actually authorize the purchase). Then the Mayor and new Chief got a sworn statement from the old chief that he didn't authorize the purchase the next day (I didn't have time to get in touch with the old chief before they got the statement). The new Chief and Captain have some sort of IA investigation going. I think I'm in big trouble.

You then compounded your problem by lying. LYING in WRITING.
Since you said you didn’t have time to get ahold of the old chief------I would assume you were going to try to get him to perjure himself to protect you???????

Does anyone see a way to avoid losing my career over this or have any ideas about what to do? I know I made a mistake with the statement. I just don't know what to do to get out of this and it doesn't help that the Mayor really doesn't like me. We don't have civil service, but do have PO bill of rights.

After providing a written statement in which you lied to your supervisor-----------------You will have a hard time remaining a viable police officer under the Brady decision. Brady v. Maryland, 83 S. Ct. 1194 (1963).

[tedgmcc]

If this is real, get a lawyer to stay out of jail. You perjured yourself because you let the mayor upset you??? A supervisor (with 22 years experience) shouldn't let this happen.

[retired]

I find it difficult to believe that you posted this information, and that you are a 22 year veteran, and a Sgt. on top of it. I really question if you are a LEO at all.