Chief explains his choice of investigator

By Jon Moffett

YOUNGSTOWN — An altercation between two Youngstown police officers has raised questions about the department’s investigative process.

Chief Jimmy Hughes elected to bypass Internal Affairs and instead have Capt. David Williams investigate a physical confrontation between two detective-sergeants on duty March 22. Hughes said the decision was made because the matter was within Williams’ job description.

“No one in internal affairs is a captain, so he has the most authority in the department other than myself,” Hughes said of Williams.

“These are two sergeants who work for him, and he should have the authority to handle it. I would rather have him investigate because he is the highest-ranking officer and has authority over these guys.”

Williams is investigating what Hughes called a verbal altercation between two officers that turned physical.

“They got into a verbal altercation and then got into a scuffle,” Hughes said. “What type of scuffle is what we’re trying to determine. If it was criminal, it will be investigated as such.”

Hughes said neither officer filed a complaint, so no incident report was made.

“What we’re doing now is investigating as to why we didn’t get a report,” Hughes said. “Maybe the officers felt they didn’t need one.”

Hughes said the officers will be disciplined if appropriate. He added that suspension is possible if he or the captain feels it is warranted.

Hughes said that though he doesn’t expect everyone in his department to get along all the time, taking a disagreement to a physical level is unacceptable.

“I don’t expect my officers to be arguing, and I don’t expect that to be proper behavior,” he said. “It won’t be tolerated.”