Police Sgt. Cher Sneider was demoted to patrol officer and suspended for 15 work days without pay on Monday after the Police and Fire Commission determined she tried to date a criminal suspect and then lied about it.
The commission stopped short of firing her, which acting Police Chief Daniel Meister had requested.
Sneider's demotion was warranted, commission members said, because her untruthfulness during the Police Department investigation and the commission hearing last week into her conduct undermined her ability to supervise.
Sneider was hired in January 2000 and has been a sergeant since November 2006. She was earning $68,910 annually as a sergeant. A top paid patrol officer in the department earns about $59,259 annually.
Meister had filed administrative charges against Sneider earlier this year, accusing her of lying and inappropriate conduct and sought her dismissal from the force.
According to the administrative charges filed against her, Sneider, while off duty on May 10, 2008, had an on-duty patrol officer access a secure police database to get Sneider the phone number of a man who was under investigation by the department.
Sneider, who has been on paid administrative leave since November 2008, thought the man was "hot" and wanted to call him so she could go out with him, according to the charging document and testimony at the hearing.
The man, identified only as John Doe in the document, was a city resident with a known criminal history with the department. At the time, city police were investigating him and his residence on suspicion of illegal activity, including illegal drugs, the charging document states.
Sneider made four calls with her personal cell phone to the man's residence on May 10, 2008, one call the following day and two calls on May 17, 2008, the document says. She also stopped at his home May 11, but he wasn't there, the document states.
Sneider, who testified during a two-day hearing last week, denied trying to have a relationship with the man and said she only contacted the suspect as part of an investigation into a noise complaint.
Sneider's attorney, Gordon McQuillen, said Monday that Sneider might appeal the discipline. He said evidence presented by Meister did not prove Sneider accessed Doe's number for personal reasons.
Commission members, in a seven-page decision, said Sneider's testimony was unconvincing.
"It is not credible that Sneider would be making legitimate and necessary police-related calls . . . while out visiting a succession of taverns on a Saturday night and drinking alcoholic beverages. It is not believable that Sneider would pursue this issue off duty as late as 12:06 a.m. on Sunday morning, May 11, 2008, which is the time she made her last call to the Doe residence," the commission wrote.
Police Department rules require that officers engage in professional conduct, refrain from associating with people of questionable character, use city resources only for work and "speak the truth at all times."
A separate insubordination charge against Sneider was dismissed by the commission. That charge stemmed from her request to remove a laptop computer mount bracket from then-Chief Gary Bach's squad car to have it installed in her car. Meister earlier had issued an order that nothing be removed from Bach's squad, and Sneider was accused of ignoring the mandate.
The commission said it is disappointing that department personnel and commission time was spent looking into the laptop mount issue.
"The commission is concerned that this situation is symptomatic of poor management, system-wide disregard for authority and continuing deterioration in the chain of command with the police department. This matter should have been handled internally," the commission said.
-----------------------
http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/66364042.html
No comments:
Post a Comment