By Norm Narvaja, The Bucyrus Telegraph Forum/Gannett News Service (Bucyrus, Ohio)
Mansfield, Ohio -- You are a law-enforcement officer. You are charged with a misdemeanor offense while off the clock. What happens to you at your workplace?
It depends on the accusation.
A misdemeanor assault charge filed against Shelby police Officer Bryan Hackedorn has raised questions about how police departments handle allegations against their officers.
Officials at Mansfield, Ontario, Galion and Crestline police departments have said an internal investigation would be the first step.
Hackedorn is scheduled to appear at Ashland Municipal Court on Friday. The Shelby Police Department is conducting an internal investigation but officials are awaiting a verdict before continuing.
Shelby police Chief Michael Bennett said Monday that Hackedorn remains on duty.
Mansfield Service and Safety Director Ronald Kreuter said the city would wait for the department’s investigation to conclude, then look at the charge and “how it would affect an officer in their regular line of work.”
“It depends on the severity of the offense,” he said. Bouncing a check would be handled differently than being charged with operating a vehicle while impaired.
Kreuter said if public trust does become an issue, an officer may be required to attend anger management courses or have psychiatric evaluations.
“We have rules and regulations for our officers on and off duty,” Ontario police Chief Tim McClaran said. Officers found to have violated these rules are issued penalties ranging from verbal warnings to termination of employement.
“We have to issue two warnings to the officer in question,” McClaran said. “They basically say an officer is entitled to a union representative and a lawyer for a predisciplinary hearing.”
Specific procedures, specified in police unions’ collective bargaining agreements, vary from city to city.
Galion acting police Chief Ken Siegenthal said his department deals with misdemeanor charges against officers on a case-by-case basis because of the varying degrees of misdemeanors.
“There was an incident where one officer was charged with shoplifting several years ago and we terminated him,” Siegenthal said.
“We’re in the middle of a revamp of our policies,” Crestline police Chief Butch Wilhite said. “Right now, we’re looking through everything because these policies were written in the mid-'70s and early ‘80s and some of them do not apply.”