Excessive Discipline Protection DatabaseDeveloped by a Police Officer Exclusively for Law Enforcement
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Work Injuries (IOD) and Your
Rights: By Adam M.
Walcoff,
Esquire What
is
workers comp? What
happens if I am involved in an accident
while working? What should I be getting from my
employer? These
often asked questions
usually occur only after
an employee
is injured as a result of a work accident.
But it is extremely important to know what benefits exist in the event
of a work injury before
an injury
occurs so you know how to protect yourself. ... go to article.... The N.J.G.I.A.
was established in 2005 by a group of law enforcement professionals who
recognized the importance of having a gang based information sharing
network narrowly but intensely focused on responding to the
proliferation of street gangs in New Jersey. Like other states along
the East Coast, a phenomenon also exist in New Jersey where well
established criminal street gangs hailing from the West Coast, Mid
West, and South West have recently, and increasingly joined
the
population of our existing gangs, bringing the potential of further
criminal networking to a new, and more threatening
level. Go to article Dr. Miller will conduct
Fitness for
Duty Exams for officers that will be unbiased, based
on the officer's
complete employment record.
Dr. Miller requires the officer's entire
personnel file (or EdPDLaw Portfolio) and all Performance Evaluations
throughout the officer's career, as well as a copy of the
pre-employment
screening for evaluation, not just the
Internal Affairs records pertaining to isolated incidents of the
officer's
employment record. Unions may
be assured that
“independent” and
“unbiased” evaluations are just that. Dr.
Miller is not a hired
gun and will call
each case as he sees it, on an individual basis. Go to article... The
major misconception with the plan is the officer's
belief that he must use his union attorney or retain an attorney on his
own. This is entirely
false.
Members of the Legal Protection Plan
can use any of the 120+
Law Firms
that are enrolled in the plan (network) and any of the 3,000 attorneys
in those
law firms. There is no retainer fee and the attorneys bill is
covered up to your policy limit of $20,000 or $40,000 per
occurence. There is no deductible. Expert
fees are
also covered. go
to article EdPDLaw
welcomes Police Psychotherapist, Stephanie Samuels, MA, MSW, LCSW,
founder
of
CopLine™ to
the Team Stephanie
Samuels, MA, MSW, LCSW, is a
psychotherapist that has worked exclusively with law enforcement
officers in
New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Ms. Samuels has
lectured all
over the country on PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and its
devastating effects on the law enforcement community. She has
received
numerous prestigious awards, has taught for 10 years at the Monmouth
County Police Academy, lectured at the FBI Academy in Quantico, VA
and authored five legislative bills in the State of New
Jersey. Ms. Samuels also authored a legislative bill in
Pennsylvania pushing to have a psychological injury
recognized as the equivalent of a physical injury. Go to article... On
the collection of specimens,
after a series of errors in the Chain of
Custody, the Gonsalves Court finds: "Though none of these factors
standing alone would
suffice to convince this court that tampering could have occurred, when
taken in concert, they strongly suggest that IA does not take its
responsibility seriously enough. When a small group of people is
entrusted with a great
responsibility, and has the power and means to potentially end a fellow
officer's career though their actions would be illegal, they owe that
officer the highest duty of care, and are bound to exercise their
utmost vigilance to ensure that the process and trust is kept safe. They
need not negate all possibility of tampering, but they must ensure, at
the very least, that all samples are collected properly and transported
to the Lab, that the chain of custody is maintained, and that all
paperwork tracking the specimen from collection to the Lab is completed
competently." Honorable
CARIDAD F. RIGO,
ALJ... Gonsalves v.
Juvenile Justice
Commission, CSV08061-02, OAL/NJ
handed down August 15, 2005 In
the case where
the
Officer just SNAPS
and goes off on the Supervisor, it is important to
look at how the Supervisor treated the officer both prior to and during
the "incident". Just as officers are held to a higher
standard than civilian/citizens, Supervisors are held to higher
standards than their subordinates. These standards are
defined in both Rules & Regulations and Policies &
Procedures. Download
EdPDLaw Action Flow
Chart
go to article EdPDLaw
welcomes K-9 Expert Deputy Terry Fleck from Lake Tahoe, California to
the Team Terry
Fleck,
Ed.D., is a
Deputy Sheriff II/Canine Handler (Ret.) in South Lake Tahoe,
California. Deputy Terry Fleck has 23 years in the handling and
training of patrol K-9’s, crossed trained for search and
rescue, narcotics detection, evidence recovery, cadaver recovery and
tracking/trailing. He is an expert in the field of canines and author
of numerous publications. He is a leading
authority in the canine industry on current case law and legal trends.
He possesses a degree of Doctor of Education in Criminal Justice and
has taught over 13,000 canine handlers, supervisors, administrators,
agency attorneys and risk managers
nationwide. go
to article Far
too many officers get jammed up and fired over domestics which occur in
their own lives. Don't be one of them. Anthony
Pope, Esquire advises
to
immediately consult with an attorney once a
TRO is obtained. If the Judge has taken your weapon from you,
have your attorney seek an interim order to permit you to carry your
weapon on duty. If the offense is a disorderly persons
offense, request administrative duties until the hearing for the Final
Restraining Order. Have the hearing for the final
order POSTPONED for as long as possible to allow for the gathering of
evidence, preparation of witnesses, etc. go to article How
many of us have been order to "put it in writing"? Only to have our
reports used as the basis of discipline? Before you "put it
in writing", the details
surrounding an incident that will lead to Departmental
charges, read these cases and consult with your union representative
and attorney. go
to article.. There are two forms of
sexual
harassment, (1) Quid pro quo and (2) hostile work
environment. Keep
in mind that sexual harassment is a form of
discrimination and that harassment based on "sex" is interchangeable
with all illegal forms of harassment, i.e. race, age, religion, natural
origin, etc. These claims fall under Federal Code, Title VII,
as well as individual state laws. (In New Jersey, refer to NJLAD
(New Jersey Laws
against Discrimination) laws). go to article... Gaining
an
appointment as a narcotics
detective can be highly competitive. Many Departments either
don't post openings or don't solicit resumes from members that are
interested in the position. This leads to political
appointments of officers that are either under qualified or not
qualified at all. Find
out how to
get the position you want. There
is none among us who can honestly say that we have not contemplated
ending our lives. In this profession our death is the
reality of the job, to be able to determine the day, time and manner in
which it ends puts us in control of our destiny". anonymous
officer The
purpose of this
article is to assure fair Administrative Hearings in police
disciplinary
matters. If
a law
enforcement officer is
brought up on charges internally, the charges are
first heard at the local level by either a police or township official.
The authority for these hearings is either Title
4A (civil service), Title
40, or a combination of both. go
to article..... Do
you end up using your sick time because your request for the use of
comp time is denied? Does this eventually land you on the
sick time abusers' list? There may be help. A
recent decision has stated that Departments needs more than
the payment of overtime to deny a request for time off using compensatory time. Every
officer faces them. They are usually equipment violations,
not cleaning the patrol car, forgetting to gas up the vehicle, smoking,
not wearing your hat, forgetting your flashlight.... the little ways
the Department reminds you that they care. The problem with
the nuisance charges
is that you are more than likely guilty. After all, who among
us has not forgotten our flashlight? our hat? or worse? An
employee's formal complaint regarding working conditions or failure by
management to stick to its contract with the employee." In
order for a grievance to be successful you must be able to cite a
specific clause in your contract that you feel the Administration is in
violation of. In the alternative you can cite a violation of
Policy & Procedures or Rules and Regulations which are usually
incorporated in your contract. Many issues that officers want
to grieve are deemed by the Administration to be "managerial
prerogative" and therefore, the grievance is denied. Is this
really the case? "The
commission uncovered a systemic pattern of official misconduct,
nepotism and abuse of the public trust so pervasive in this community
as to cause local budgetary hardships and jeopardize the local police
department's ability to finance its operation." go to report... Perhaps
one of the most vulnerable
areas for police officers is to be
ordered to a Fitness for Duty
Examination. Until
a police union is faced with this career ending action forced
upon one of their members,
they take little action to prepare.
This article,
corresponding links and case law, is written to heighten your awareness
of
the very real threat that this action poses against
unsuspecting
officers and unprepared unions. more....
REPRESENTING
EMPLOYEES IN THE DISCIPLINARY PROCESS
A.
The
Employee's Right to Representation - The Weingarten
Rule Employees
are guaranteed the right
to representation
whenever an employee is being questioned under circumstances which
may lead to discipline. These rights were first described by the
United States Supreme Court and apply in a variety of settings. In
each case, however, the employee is entitled to representation only
if the employee requests representation. Absent a request from the
employee, the employer has no obligation to notify the employee of
the employee's right to request representation. more..... The impact
of discipline on promotional
scoring is
substantial. It has
been shown that many Departments disciplining activities rise just
prior to the announcement of a promotional test. Although safeguards
have been set in place within the various state testing agencies, the
scores can still be impacted with purpose to dictate the outcome of the
list. The Departments goal is to get the desired
candidate within the top three (Rule of Three) to promote. Initial
Union Summary Report is the
first in a series
of reports that will be generated from the information collected from
the members' personnel files. It
will present a general overview of the results of the query, alert the
members as to the contents of their personnel file and suggest areas
that may warrant further investigation. Sick
Time
Abusers List Each
September, or
thereabout, the Departments frequently issue a list of "Sick Time
Abusers" with the warning that anytime taken off from now until the end
of the year will not be excused without a doctor's note.
The
Departments justification for the creation of this list is that
frequent calling out by officers causes the Department to incur
unwarranted overtime.
Lateral
Transfers This
is always a heated
topic as Unions and Departments battle daily to find some common ground
in this area. What is the fair way to make assignments to the
various special units? Who should work narcotics? Community
Police? K-9? Detectives? Dare Officer? Is there a fair way to
make these assignments? How do you remove the
politics? more... Departments
are sticking
their necks out
and creating liability for themselves every time they use this charge
against one of their members. This
is a lose/lose proposition
for both the officer and the Department alike. It undermines
the
integrity of the Department, destroys moral and opens both the
Department and the Officer to lawsuits.
By
destroying an officer's credibility, Attorney
News Letters A
new and unique
service
is being
offered to unions to assist the union attorneys is their representation
of the
union members. The
service is simple,
to maintain
a duplicate personnel file of the union members.
This
takes the control out of the Departments
hands and places it with the union. There
is no more guessing on the contents
of the
file,
Unfortunately, Internal Affairs is a
necessary evil in governmental agencies. When done correctly and not
politically, this can be
an important tool for both the officer and the Department. The
Division of
Criminal Justice has set forth guidelines which
are to be followed when conducting an Internal Affairs Investigation,
you should
become familiar with them. |
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© 2011
Excessive Discipline Protection Database
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