By Jerry Haferkamp
There has been much comment about the pay scale of our police officers. We feel this pay scale is a positive thing. We should take pride in the fact we have a wage scale that recruits the best and increases retention, among other things. These positions take a higher degree of education and training than they did years ago. That said; we do have a few problems.
Apparently 73 police officers have filed letters stating they had emotional and mental problems and may have difficulty dealing with the public because of these problems. While our members feel these officers don’t really have these problems, we recognize that by submitting these letters, they have placed their careers at risk. Equally important, they have placed our residents at risk.
You have probably read or heard on the news the story of a county resident who accidentally lost an eye when he engaged our Sheriff’s deputies in a struggle. He thought interfering with police officers was a good idea. He was wrong. While the officers were apparently doing their duties, this man could still possibly sue the County.
If this incident had taken place inside our city and the injured citizen and his lawyer discovered the officer involved filed one of these letters and was allowed to remain on patrol duty, what would be our liability? A jury award under these circumstances could be huge even if the officers did absolutely nothing wrong. The jurors would have to feel there was negligence on the City’s part for allowing him to remain on duty.
While some of our members feel the only way to remove our City’s liability is to immediately remove these officers from duty, some also would like the City to explore the possibility of allowing officers who filed these letters an opportunity to rescind them. To further reduce our liability, they could be required to submit a written letter stating why they are rescinding the complaint and that their claimed mental and emotional problems are not now existent, nor were they at the time of the filing of the claims. Anything less leaves us vulnerable. This may not even be enough to remove the liability they have placed on our residents, but it may be a start.
The City should consider offering a “window” period of amnesty against taking action against any of these 73 that rescind their letter.
We don’t want to see these officers loose their jobs, but we don’t want to see our city ruined financially by lawsuits. The residents have one bogus lawsuit clouding the horizon now, and even the bogus ones can cost thousands to defend.
Our residents are sitting on a ticking bomb. No matter how small or perceived the injury may be, a “Mother of all lawsuits” could be just one domestic disturbance call away.
The residents are the City, and these officers have jeopardized us all. They need to take a long, hard look at what their actions have done. We hope they step up and remove this liability from the residents. If they don’t, our City’s officials have little choice but to do it.
Speaking of liabilities:
Has Steve Powell been fired yet? Why not?
