Sergeant Paul Wing is one of those guys who loves
being a cop. A police officer for over 20 years, Wing joined the City of
Rialto Police Department in 1990. In 1994, he was promoted to sergeant,
and every one of his evaluations rated his performance as exceeding
standards. He was generally regarded as a dedicated, knowledgeable and
dependable resource for peers and subordinates, and was often commended
by citizens and brass for exemplary performance. No one would have
imagined that Wing would be at the center of a political controversy, or
the subject of a major disciplinary action. Especially since he had not
received any prior discipline.
Wing’s nightmare began when the City of Rialto
hired San Francisco Police Commission Office of Citizen Complaints
attorney, Lance Bayer. A self-described investigator "of personnel
complaints," Bayer had no law enforcement training prior to
assuming leadership of the commission, and personally conducted only one
investigation during his tenure, which ended when he resigned after only
11 months. Despite having little training or experience in internal
affairs investigations, the city paid Bayer to investigate a complaint
by a city councilman, in which he alleged that members of the police
department were plotting to frame him on DUI or drug-related charges.
That investigation quickly determined there was insufficient credible
evidence to conclude that any member of the department was plotting
against the city councilman.
Bayer, however, seized upon a conversation between
Wing and Lt. Christopher Sullivan, during which they discussed methods
of handling a DUI arrest of a city council member. That conversation
occurred in September 1997, shortly after Sullivan was reprimanded for
allowing an officer to drive a former captain to his residence
subsequent to his being stopped on suspicion of DUI. Sullivan showed a
copy of the written counseling to Wing, one of the patrol sergeants he
supervised, and told Wing that, in the future, no one would be cut any
more breaks because he did not want to get "dinged" again.
"From now on," Sullivan said, "all suspects that drink
and drive go to jail."
Wing asked Sullivan if his directive applied to city
council members, because "there was a good chance" that two of
the council members who drank often might be stopped. Wing also
suggested that some procedure be implemented whereby CHP would conduct
the field sobriety tests, and collect and maintain all evidence, to
minimize claims of preferential treatment or conflicts of interest. Wing
suggested using an outside agency due to an incident from 10 years prior
where the department was criticized publicly after a former city
councilman was arrested for DUI and critical evidence was lost or
destroyed.
Bayer concluded that Wing’s suggestion that a city
councilman would be stopped for DUI because he was known to drink
constituted conduct unbecoming an officer. He alleged that Wing’s
conversation with Sullivan perpetuated rumors and that Wing "used
those rumors in the course and scope of [his] duties to discuss specific
contingency plans." Police Chief Michael Meyers delegated authority
to Bayer to recommend proposed discipline. Bayer recommended that Wing
be permanently demoted two ranks (to the rank of officer, bypassing
corporal) and be suspended for 30 days. That recommendation also
addressed an allegation, to which Wing readily admitted, that some nine
months prior he failed to turn in a report in a timely fashion.
Wing appeared at a predisciplinary (Skelly)
hearing before Meyers. The chief acknowledged that the city councilman
had been the subject of rumors within the department regarding
drunkenness and that those rumors reinforced Wing’s personal
observations. The chief concluded that Wing should have recognized that
the times when he observed the councilman to be intoxicated were
"social occasions where drinking alcoholic beverages was acceptable
behavior and did not involve driving." The chief therefore upheld
the proposed demotion and 30-day suspension.
Wing, represented by attorney Robert M. Wexler, a
partner with Santa Monica based Silver, Hadden & Silver, appealed
Meyers’ action. They argued that there was nothing improper about Wing’s
conversation with Sullivan, which was conducted in the privacy of the
watch commander’s office and in the context of training. Wexler also
contacted the department’s two prior police chiefs, who both testified
as to the propriety of the conversation. They also opined that not only
would no discipline be appropriate for suggesting, based on personal
observations, that there was "a chance" that a councilman
could get stopped for DUI, but both chiefs commended Wing for suggesting
the use of an outside agency and for being sensitive to public
perception.
Robert Steinberg, the neutral arbitrator mutually
selected by the parties, presided over the three day evidentiary
hearing. The department offered the testimony of both Bayer and Meyers,
as well as other percipient witnesses. Wing testified in his own defense
and also introduced favorable testimony from several witnesses,
including the two chiefs who preceded Meyers. Steinberg delivered a
written decision in which he concluded that Meyers’ rationale
supporting his degree of discipline was "difficult to
understand" and relied "upon after-the-fact statements and
conduct to exacerbate discipline". In a rare denouncement of a
department head’s actions, Steinberg issued a finding that the
"demotion of [Wing] from sergeant to police officer, accompanied by
a 30-day suspension without pay, is unsupported by the evidence record,
and is eminently excessive, arbitrary, capricious, and constitutes an
abuse of [Meyers’] authority." The arbitrator recommended that
Wing be reinstated as a sergeant retroactive to the date of his demotion
with full back-pay and benefits, and that the 30-day suspension, save
some minor discipline for the late report, be overturned and Wing’s
record be appropriately rehabilitated.
When asked to comment on the arbitrator’s decision,
Wing said in his characteristically quiet manner, "I’m just happy
to be a sergeant again and to have this whole mess behind me." Wing
did wish to convey his appreciation to all those that supported him and
added, "I never realized how valuable a resource LDF was, but when
I needed it, it was there for me in a big way."
