Wednesday, Apr. 27, 2005 | ||
Bad Links? | Fville cops taping leads to firingBy BEN NELMS Fayetteville police officers tape-recording one another has led to the firing of a former high-ranking officer and the filing of two federal complaints alleging racial discrimination, according to current and former city officials. Former Fayetteville Police Officer Harold Simmons believes his April 14 termination for insubordination was linked to race. His April 26 appeal of the termination comes on the heels of two discrimination complaints filed with federal authorities. The city maintains that its actions fell within the parameters of its personnel policies. Contacted Tuesday, Simmons said the reason for recording the officers involved his stepping down from the rank of major. The officers he recorded, Simmons said, didnt have a problem with the taping. And there were reasons, he said, for not writing the required letters of apology. I did not and have not used those tape recordings to hurt the officers that I taped. The tapings over a year ago would have never been known if Chief [Johnny] Roberts had not asked me under a hostile environment when questioning me on Dec. 1 if I had ever taped anybody in the police department. It was just a general question he asked, fishing for an answer. Being truthful, I told him yes, I have. The second reason is that those officers and I are still friends. We have talked about it since it has come out. They told me they dont want and dont need an apology. They said they had taped me before. They see nothing that Ive done wrong and I see nothing that Ive done wrong. Its not a violation of the law, its not a violation of the policy and, third, they issue us the equipment to tape record. So I didnt do anything wrong and thats the major reason I wont write a letter of apology that means I violated policy, that I did these things wrong, that I used poor judgement. That goes against my claim of saying that I didnt do anything wrong. Simmons said he would apologize if a policy existed stating that tape recording another officer was prohibited. Simmons added that he had known Roberts to record people with and without their permission. He cited an occasion in Roberts office on Dec. 1, 2004, where he said he was taped without his permission or prior knowledge. For probably two hours I was in his office where [Roberts] was yelling and screaming and threatening to fire me, cursing and using profanity. And then all of a sudden I asked, Why are you making a big deal of this, are you taping this? And he said, You bet I am and I will fire your ass, Simmons said. If youre going to use a situation to fire somebody, let it be legitimate. Let it be something that has caused a problem between the officers, something that has caused a morale problem. Thats just not the case here. Simmons filed discrimination complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) April 4 and 15. The April 15 complaint stated that on April 13 Police Chief Johnny Roberts had inappropriately ordered him to write apology letters to two co-workers for an incident for which he had already been reprimanded. The complaint stated that Roberts ordered the apology letters written, For a lack of judgment, to admit that I had violated policies and procedures of the department and to admit my actions were not in line with the good working order of the department of the City of Fayetteville. The complaint said Simmons was terminated the following day, allegedly for discrimination. Simmons said he believes he was discriminated against based on race and in retaliation for his filing an initial EEOC complaint on April 4. The April 4 complaint states that Simmons was hired as a patrolman in May 1992 and was promoted to the rank of major in 1999. He was demoted to master patrol officer in February 2004 and, in August 2004, was reprimanded for leaving his duty post, the complaint said. In October he was accused of stealing from the city, on Dec. 1 was directed to take a polygraph test and on Dec. 16 he was compelled to undergo an internal investigation, according to the April 4 complaint. I complained on several occasions to my supervisor and the city manager. I have been continually harrassed and retaliated against by management which has caused an intimidating and hostile work environment. Similarly situated employees not of my race have not received the same or similar treatment, the complaint stated. In his April 15 complaint, Simmons asserted that he was demoted for poor performance, reprimanded for leaving my post without permission, accused of stealing from the city due to inaccurate time sheets, directed to take polygraph due to my rebuttal of the reprimand and investigated for handcuffing a student without legal justification. He said neither Maj. Steve Ledbetter nor city manager Joe Morton, both white, had given him a reason for failing to afford him a fair and impartial hearing. Contacted Monday, Morton said Simmons had filed a grievance to a reprimand issued by Roberts in which Simmons alleged racial discrimination. Morton said Simmons was given an extensive two-day hearing conducted before an independent hearing officer, an attorney specializing in employment law. Morton added that Simmons was represented by an attorney at the hearing. The hearing officer found no racial discrimination in the citys personnel policies and practices or in the reprimand, Morton said. Simmons was notified of the hearing officers decision but was subsequently discharged for failing to comply with the requirements of the reprimand after being provided a reasonable time to comply, Morton said. He had been caught and admitted to recording two fellow officers in the department to gain information on Chief Roberts, Morton said. That was the charge that was in the written reprimand. We got to the end of the reprimand process and the hearing officer found that there was no racial discrimination. We moved forward with the reprimand at that point. The only outstanding thing in that reprimand was that the two letters of apology had not been written to those officers, Morton added. The chief informed him that he needed to write those letters by a specific date. Officer Simmons refused to write the two letters, so he was discharged for insubordination. The city received a copy of the April 4 complaint on April 18 and a copy of the April 15 complaint on April 25, Morton said. Commenting Tuesday on the issue, Roberts said discrimination does not exist in his department and that the independent investigator found Simmons allegations without merit. The city of Fayetteville, and especially myself, does not discriminate against anyone because of their race or any other factor. An independent investigator has already reviewed the allegations and found NO merit to Mr. Simmons claims and I am confident that any future review will render the same results. Regarding the termination appeal, Morton has the responsibility for rendering a decision within 10 days of the April 26 hearing. Relating to the EEOC complaints, Morton said the city has referred the matter to legal counsel for a proper and timely response. The city firmly contends that it has acted in a proper, legal and orderly manner and has granted to Mr. Simmons a legitimate process to air his grievances and adequate opportunity to comply with the lawful requirements of his employer, he said. The city intends to defend itself to the fullest extent allowed by law.
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