Warren police officer facing 2nd probe

By Ed Runyan

The officer and three others filed grievances regarding punishment they received.

WARREN — The Warren Police Department’s internal-affairs officer has been asked to investigate a city officer for a second time this year over his time on and off the clock.

Sgt. Jeff Cole, internal affairs officer, said acting Chief Tim Bowers has asked him to investigate where Sgt. Emanuel Nites was during the 10 hours from 9 p.m. July 31 until 7 a.m. Aug. 1, when Nites was scheduled to work.

Nites called off sick the afternoon before the shift, Cole said.

Cole said he would not further discuss the nature of the complaint or where it originated.

Gary Cicero, the city’s human-resources officer, said his office, which reviews police department time cards, questioned Nites’ call-off and relayed those questions to Bowers.

Cicero said he had questions in light of news reports indicating that a 10- and 11-year-old Little League baseball team from Howland that Nites coaches was playing in a state tournament game Saturday in Chesapeake, Ohio, about five hours away.

A letter was to be left for Nites on Friday informing him of the investigation, Cole said.

Nites could not be reached to comment Friday afternoon.

Cicero said Nites called off sick at 5:51 p.m. July 31.

By contract, a police officer who asks to use vacation or compensatory time at least four days in advance is guaranteed that the time off will be approved, Cicero said. Nites has more than 100 hours of compensatory time available, Cicero said.

The call-off occurred the same day Bowers wrote a letter to Nites — informing him he had been demoted from sergeant to patrolman effective today and suspended for 10 days for attending basketball games while he was on the clock in January, February and March.

Cole released Nites’ letter, along with letters to three of Nites’ supervisers regarding their suspensions for falsifying Nites’ time sheets, Monday.

All four officers — Nites, Sgt. Michael Albanese, Sgt. Dan Mason and Lt. Eric Merkel — appealed those punishments Tuesday.

The appeals said the punishments were given without “just cause,” but specific arguments were not included with the appeal.

Safety-Service Director Doug Franklin will hear the appeals, usually within 10 days of their being filed, Cicero said. A decision is usually rendered within 10 days of the hearing.

If the officers are dissatisfied with Franklin’s decision, they can appeal it to an arbitrator, Cicero said.

In the July 31 letter, Bowers said he was reducing Nites’ rank from sergeant to patrolman, resulting in $3.35-per-hour pay reduction, and ordered Nites to serve a 10-day unpaid suspension.

The reason for the punishment was that Nites had attended 14 basketball games in January, February and March in Niles, Windham, Girard, Solon, Howland and Warren Township while on the clock, Bowers said. Bowers based his conclusions on an internal-affairs investigation Cole conducted into the matter.

Bowers suspended Albanese for five days, Mason for 20 days and Merkel for 10 days — all unpaid — for covering up Nites’ absences by falsifying time sheets, Bowers said.

runyan@vindy.com