Officer reprimanded for parking

Officers should use regular parking spaces except in an emergency, the chief said.

STAFF REPORT

WARREN — A patrolman accused of parking in the fire lane and shopping at Lowe’s Home Improvement Store while on duty has received a verbal reprimand for parking in the fire lane, but did not violate departmental policy on shopping, Warren’s police chief said.

Chief John Mandopoulos said he gave Patrolman Frank Dascoulias a verbal reprimand last week. That will be followed later by written documentation of the reprimand, which will go in his personnel file, the chief said.

An individual can ask the safety service director after a year to have the written documentation of the verbal reprimand removed from his personnel file, Mandopoulos said.

Such requests are usually granted for “very minor” offenses of this type as long as the person doesn’t commit a similar offense after the reprimand, Mandopoulos said.

Mandopoulos received a complaint that Dascoulias was behaving improperly Nov. 16 at Lowe’s, which is on state Route 46 and within the jurisdiction of the Warren Police Department.

Mandopoulos said video surveillance tapes show that Dascoulias stopped in at the adjacent Sam’s Club, bought drinking water; then went to Lowe’s, greeted several people and then left; and then stopped in the nearby Sheetz.

Buying drinking water does not violate departmental policy, and Dascoulias spent a short time in the stores, Mandopoulos said.

The chief has said patrolmen are encouraged to visit businesses in the city to become familiar with the employees and managers. Store management appreciates that type of contact and presence, “especially jewelry stores, banks. They like officers stopping in,” Mandopoulos said. “We want people seeing them in there.”

However, Dascoulias had no reason to park his cruiser in a fire lane to conduct community policing at Lowe’s, the chief said.

“He screwed up,” Mandopoulos said. “He shouldn’t have parked in the fire lane.”

Parking in the fire lane is OK if there is a known emergency, but an officer should use a regular parking space otherwise, he said.