911:: Re: OFFICERS FACE SUSPENSION FOR E-MAIL OFFENSES

[Guest guest]

At 04:21 PM 10/13/2000 -0700, Vern gave us a link to a story we couldn't

get to from the link (due to APBNews website glitch):

So I thought I'd find the story and paste the text here for y'all.

(Apologies to APBNews for " redistributing " their story, but a lot of us DID

want to read it!)

OFFICERS FACE SUSPENSION FOR

E-MAIL OFFENSES

Half of Town's Police Force Involved

Dec. 6, 1998

By Hans Chen

OAKLAND, N.J. (APB) -- Half of this small borough's police force

may be

suspended for allegedly using computer terminals in their patrol

cars to

send one another disrespectful comments about the chief and the

borough.

Officials said 13 of Oakland's 26 police officers face 3- to 60-day

suspensions for transmitting the messages. A decision on whether to

suspend them will be made Monday following a borough hearing.

Among those under threat of suspension is the president of the local

Policemen's Benevolent Association (PBA).

Lawyer analyzes e-mail transcripts

A lawyer was hired to analyze 1,500 pages of e-mail transcripts,

Police

Chief O'Connor fired a civilian dispatcher, and a sergeant

may be

demoted to patrolman in connection with case.

Meanwhile, 45 officers from various police departments held a rally

Wednesday to support the 13 officers, and the local police union now

wants the chief to resign.

O'Connor actually suspended the officers in September, charging

them with

disloyalty, insubordination and making disparaging remarks about

him and

Oakland. But the officers appealed the chief's ruling, forcing

the borough to

hold the hearing.

Officers admit sending messages

The officers admit to addressing the chief disrespectfully by a

nickname,

" Jim Bob, " in the e-mail, but a spokesman for the 13 officers

said the

messages didn't contain sexual, racist or criminal content.

" You have a boss, and from time to time you might say something

about

the boss, but a lot of officers never expected their

conversations to be

reviewed or gone over with a microscope by the person they were

working

for, " said Ron Beattie, the president of the Oakland Policemen's

Benevolent Association, who is also one of the officers facing

suspension.

Union: Case Stacked Against Officers

Beattie said the chief ordered four months of e-mail transcripts

from Bergen

County officials, who maintain copies of police transmissions.

Then, the

chief commissioned a labor lawyer -- the same attorney who is

currently

negotiating with the PBA on a new labor contract -- to review

the pages of

transcripts.

Beattie said the borough, by bringing in outside lawyers to

determine the

officers' guilt, has stacked the case against them.

" We fully expect to go into the hearing and everyone will be

found guilty, "

Beattie said.

Chief declines comment

On Friday, O'Connor declined to comment beyond characterizing

the case

as " a personnel matter ... that's going to come to a hearing. "

Forrest Cupo, an Oakland resident and Paterson, N.J., police

officer who

helped organize Wednesday's rally said, " As a taxpayer, I didn't

want my

tax dollars to fight these suspensions when everything should've

been

handled in-house. There's certain steps that should have been

taken. To

jump the gun to suspension and demotion seems a little harsh. "

Union says chief should leave

However Monday's hearing turns out, Beattie said O'Connor would

have to

step down before the Oakland Police Department can begin rebuilding

itself.

" The current chief of police has been in office for 33 years,

and he could

retire tomorrow, " Beattie said. " His time has past. He's lost

the ability to

command, and he's lost the respect of his men. If there's not

change at the

top, there's going to be a huge morale problem.

<end of text>

The link IS at:

http://www.apbnews.com/newscenter/breakingnews/1998/12/06/oakland1206_1.html

and maybe it's clickable from e-mail now....

Happy to be here, proud to serve.

Olmstead

Communications Supervisor

~on the Central California coastline~

" Not presumed to be an official statement of my employing agency. "

Home E-mail: mailto:gryeyes@...

http://www.gryeyes.com/