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pmq0165
Guest
I am unsure where to post this on here, so please forgive if you have seen this post more then once. I need some advice for a friend of mine, he asked me to post for him. I will try and keep this short and to the point. He is currently facing loosing his Law Enforcement Certification, and has a court hearing coming up. Here is what happened:
He is a police officer in NC, and is currently working as a Deputy Sheriff. His previous employment was with the college campus police department. He would work the night shift, and some nights it would be kind of slow. So to fill their time some of the officers would log onto the internet, to check mail among other things. Well he went away on vacation for 2 weeks, and while he was gone a memo was issued telling them that using the phone and internet in offices was not permitted etc. When he got back he had a huge stack of papers (memos and such) and I guess he never got to read this particular memo. He continued to do what he had always done with no complaints. After a few days he was addressed with the fact he had violated one of their rules, and that they were going to fire him. He did not deny what he did, he admitted he did this, but he also admitted he did not know there was a change in policy. They never gave him second chance, and he attempted to resign before things got out of hand. The dragged their feet on his resignation until his firing was emanate. He left there, and a few months later got hired on with the Sheriffs department, learning many a lesson from the previous experience.
The state of NC has a sheriff standards review board, and once a year they pull the records of their deputies and anyone that has a “incident” on file they review this. Well they pulled his and did his review, he had to travel to the other side of the state, and stand before this board of people. He has never denied what he did, never lied about it etc,. After the review he received a certified letter letting him know that they felt they found “just cause” to have his certification revoked. He was never charged with any crime or anything of the sort. He had 30 days to write an appeal, and his local sheriff’s office said they would support him, that they didn’t want to loose him due to “administrative” reasons. They felt this action of removing his certification was to the extreme, as does most people. In their letter to him they gave their justification for revoking it, saying he was an “immoral” person to be in law enforcement etc.
He wrote his appeal, again not denying what he did, but clarifying he felt this was to the extreme. Now keep in mind this is only the Sheriff’s standards board. If he were working as a city police officer somewhere this would not even be an issue. But if the sheriff’s office decides to revoke his certification he will not be able to work in law enforcement again (to my understanding that is).
He received a letter a few weeks ago letting him know they receive his appeal etc, but he did not realize that he had another 30 days to respond to this letter. ( I am unsure exactly what this letter was). He has until Nov 30 to give them “something”.
Basically what he needs to know is “what are they expecting of him”. He has no clue on what to do, and cannot afford an attorney as we know what our fireman and policemen make as salaries. He wants to know how to extend this “hearing” that is scheduled for Jan//Feb timeframe. If anyone can give any advice on the best way for him to handle this situation it would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks for your time, and I apologize if this sounded confusing. I have read his paperwork, and it is very confusing for a non-legal mind.
Thanks again
Paula
He is a police officer in NC, and is currently working as a Deputy Sheriff. His previous employment was with the college campus police department. He would work the night shift, and some nights it would be kind of slow. So to fill their time some of the officers would log onto the internet, to check mail among other things. Well he went away on vacation for 2 weeks, and while he was gone a memo was issued telling them that using the phone and internet in offices was not permitted etc. When he got back he had a huge stack of papers (memos and such) and I guess he never got to read this particular memo. He continued to do what he had always done with no complaints. After a few days he was addressed with the fact he had violated one of their rules, and that they were going to fire him. He did not deny what he did, he admitted he did this, but he also admitted he did not know there was a change in policy. They never gave him second chance, and he attempted to resign before things got out of hand. The dragged their feet on his resignation until his firing was emanate. He left there, and a few months later got hired on with the Sheriffs department, learning many a lesson from the previous experience.
The state of NC has a sheriff standards review board, and once a year they pull the records of their deputies and anyone that has a “incident” on file they review this. Well they pulled his and did his review, he had to travel to the other side of the state, and stand before this board of people. He has never denied what he did, never lied about it etc,. After the review he received a certified letter letting him know that they felt they found “just cause” to have his certification revoked. He was never charged with any crime or anything of the sort. He had 30 days to write an appeal, and his local sheriff’s office said they would support him, that they didn’t want to loose him due to “administrative” reasons. They felt this action of removing his certification was to the extreme, as does most people. In their letter to him they gave their justification for revoking it, saying he was an “immoral” person to be in law enforcement etc.
He wrote his appeal, again not denying what he did, but clarifying he felt this was to the extreme. Now keep in mind this is only the Sheriff’s standards board. If he were working as a city police officer somewhere this would not even be an issue. But if the sheriff’s office decides to revoke his certification he will not be able to work in law enforcement again (to my understanding that is).
He received a letter a few weeks ago letting him know they receive his appeal etc, but he did not realize that he had another 30 days to respond to this letter. ( I am unsure exactly what this letter was). He has until Nov 30 to give them “something”.
Basically what he needs to know is “what are they expecting of him”. He has no clue on what to do, and cannot afford an attorney as we know what our fireman and policemen make as salaries. He wants to know how to extend this “hearing” that is scheduled for Jan//Feb timeframe. If anyone can give any advice on the best way for him to handle this situation it would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks for your time, and I apologize if this sounded confusing. I have read his paperwork, and it is very confusing for a non-legal mind.
Thanks again
Paula