Warren police officer charged with five violations of policy code

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

Capt. Tim Roberts, commander of the emergency services division of the Warren Police Department, has administratively charged Patrolman Jeff Hoolihan with violating five parts of the department’s code of conduct for contacting a news reporter and telling her about a criminal investigation.

Hoolihan violated rules regarding release of information to the public, release of confidential information and release of information regarding an investigation, Roberts said in a memo last week to Police Chief Tim Bowers.

Punishment for the violations will be determined later, following a review by Bowers.

The administrative charges followed an internal-affairs investigation that found that Hoolihan violated departmental policy by giving the interview.

Internal Affairs Officer Jeff Cole found that Hoolihan’s stated reason for releasing the information — the need to “blow the whistle” on a “coverup” of alleged criminal wrongdoing by a city wastewater worker — did not allow him to violate departmental rules.

Hoolihan said he released the information because he had participated in an investigation in 2008 that showed that a worker had pornographic images on his city-owned computer, but city officials failed to act on the information.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com