Case of disappearing cops raises questions of discipline

Case of disappearing cops raises questions of discipline

In the best of all worlds, a police officer who abandoned his post would be fired. And that’s what would have happened to a Youngstown patrolman who decided to take an early quit the morning of June 14 without telling his superior.

But in the real world, arbitrators, not mayors, get the last word on disciplining errant city employees. Youngstown probably got as good a deal as it could have hoped for in suspending the police officer and his partner for 30 days.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that arbitrators seek a happy medium in discipline cases, especially involving police officers and especially in Ohio.

About a month ago, the Cincinnati Enquirer did an exhaustive review of the effect arbitration was having on discipline in that city. An Enquirer editorial about the story described “an arbitration system that resembles a revolving door for suspended and fired cops.” The editorial continued: “Some see the system as rigged in favor of fired cops who, despite proven, serious misconduct, are reinstated by independent arbitrators and awarded back pay. Over the past 10 years, the city has lost 16 of 18 arbitration cases against officers and 911 dispatchers.”

There is apparently something about Ohio that works in the favor of disciplined municipal employees. The Enquirer story found, for instance, that in Houston and Chicago, the city won about half the disciplinary cases that went to arbitration.

Tough choice

So, given that Mayor Williams had the choice of exacting a solid 30 days of suspension from the two police officers against the possibility of a firing being overturned by an arbitrator who might order reinstatement and back pay, it’s difficult to fault the mayor in this case.

Patrolman Michael Brindisi, 38, and Patrolman Stephen Price, 41, were each given 30 days suspensions for leaving work early June 14. The suspensions will cost them about $4,000 each and they are prohibited from working private security jobs during their suspensions.

These are true 30-day suspensions, not subject a trade of vacation days or accumulated time off, so the financial penalty is substantial.

It sends a strong message to any other officer who might be tempted to follow Brindisi or Price’s example that misconduct carries serious consequences.

There’s no evidence to suggest that police going AWOL is a common occurrence because, among other things, a police officer who disappears shifts work to his fellow officers and puts them in danger.

Youngstown residents still have cause to wonder what would have happened in this case if a Vindicator reporter had not heard that on the morning of June 14 East Side cruisers were called upon to respond to routine South Side calls.

An internal affairs investigation into those events wasn’t launched until after the reporter made a public records request for 911 Center documents and audio and video recordings covering the time in question.

The discipline of the two officers and the reprimand of a captain who had some idea of what happened but did not treat the incident with the seriousness that it merited, apparently closes the book on the events of June 14.

But as Williams has acknowledged, his administration is now involved in a top-to-bottom appraisal of the Police Department’s operations.

Regardless of the evident dedication of individual police officers to doing their duty, there are obviously areas of dysfunction within the department that must be addressed.