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Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Pitt
27 August 2008

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USA: Ross fires officer set to

Ross commissioners have fired an 18-year veteran of the police force who is scheduled for a second Navy deployment to Iraq next month.

Commissioners voted 8-0 to fire Patrolman Robert Gaertner at their business meeting Monday night.

Officials offered no details on why they fired Mr. Gaertner. "This is a personnel matter," Commissioners President Daniel DeMarco said.

"I've got a wife and two kids," Mr. Gaertner said after the meeting. "I don't know what I am going to do."

He said he has filed a grievance and will ask an independent arbitrator to reinstate him under the terms of the police union's contract with the township.

Recently promoted to ensign, Mr. Gaertner has spent 22 years on active duty and in the Navy Reserve. He first was called up for domestic duty following the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and was mobilized a second time in 2005 and served in Kuwait and Iraq. He is scheduled to depart Sept. 12 for another tour in Iraq, with a Naval Logistics and Support Group based in Norfolk, Va.

The decision to fire Mr. Gaertner followed an investigation by township representatives, Mr. DeMarco said. The allegations against Mr. Gaertner did not involve threats to the safety of township residents, he said.

He had been suspended with pay since Aug. 11.

Mr. Gaertner said the dispute centered around accounting issues, some of which involved the township's procedures for making up the difference between his military and police pay.

Another issue involved his work schedule and military compensation for attending veterans' funerals while he was assigned to light police duty following a knee injury.

Ross employees called to active duty for two weeks during the summer are compensated for salary lost due to military service. Making up pay differential for workers serving on longer deployments is decided on a case-by-case basis.

Mr. Gaertner, a former president of the Ross police union, said he had marked his 18th anniversary as a Ross police officer on Sunday, the day before he was discharged.

About 30 friends, family members and military reservists attended Monday's meeting in support of Mr. Gaertner.

Warren Roberts of Bethel Park, a senior chief petty officer, said he has known Mr. Gaertner for 15 years and described him as a man of impeccable integrity.

Solicitor Bonnie Brimmeier said the decision to discharge Mr. Gaertner followed a thorough and unbiased investigation. He has the option of appealing his dismissal, she said.

Supporters of Mr. Gaertner are hearing only a partial story, she said. "The commissioners cannot entertain these comments ... comments that are inaccurate," she said.

"So he can be recalled to go back to the desert, but he is not good enough to serve on the police force," Mr. Roberts said.

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Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Pitt27 August 2008

USA: Ross fires officer set to

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Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Pitt
27 August 2008