REINSTATEMENT ORDERED FOR
SECOND IRVINE OFFICER
Our readership will
recall the uplifting story in our November issue of Irvine P.D. Sergeant
Brian Clifton, who was exonerated of 84 disciplinary charges and
recommended for reinstatement by retired Judge Richard Beacom. According
to the department’s charge letter, Clifton was fired for his alleged
mismanagement of the Special Enforcement Team. According to Judge Beacom,
Clifton was really fired for his activities as Irvine Police Officers’
Association president. Also fired in the purge were two of Clifton’s
subordinates, Officers Randy Lack and Jerry Head, ostensibly to add
justification for terminating Clifton. After a separate hearing before
retired Judge John Flynn, Lack was recommended for reinstatement as
well. City Manager Allison Hart has now adopted Judge Flynn’s
recommendation and ordered Lack to return to duty. Lack, like Clifton,
was represented throughout by Bill Hadden, of Silver, Hadden &
Silver.
In many respects, the
allegations against Lack mirrored those brought against Clifton. Both
were charged with numerous counts of misusing department time and
receiving pay for time not worked. As in the Clifton hearing, the
unchallenged evidence in Lack’s case showed that officers of the SET
team were given great flexibility in adjusting their hours, authorized
to retain "memory banks" of previously worked but
uncompensated for overtime, and allowed to perform minimal amounts of
personal business on duty. In essence, unit members were treated for
timekeeping purposes more like salaried than hourly employees by
management, primarily to avoid the payment of overtime. The evidence
showed that management knew of, condoned and perpetuated these
practices. Judge Flynn found that Lack’s conduct was consistent with
the standards of the unit, and that the department charges on these
issues were meritless.
In many cases with
political overtones, a department will not rest until it tacks on
dishonesty allegations to the charge letter, allegations often composed
of minor discrepancies magnified out of all proportion to justify the
penalty of termination. Like Clifton, Lack was also charged with
numerous contrived counts of dishonesty stemming from the internal
affairs investigation. While no one disputes that actions implicating an
officer’s integrity are matters of great importance, such allegations
should never be frivolously made or whimsically supported. Discrepancies
between the statements of two witnesses may prove nothing more than
mistaken recollection or innocent misunderstanding. To be able to
sustain career ending allegations, a department must be required to do
more than show that the officer made a statement with which it
disagrees, or that the officer’s statement was factually inaccurate.
Instead, the department must show that an officer made a false statement
with full knowledge of its falsity.
In its bumbling attempt
to fire officer Lack, the department abysmally failed to come close to
meeting this standard. In virtually every instance, Judge Flynn found
that there was no proof that Lack had said anything that was remotely
false, never mind intentionally false. Accordingly, Judge Flynn
dismissed all of the dishonesty allegations. In recommending Lack’s
reinstatement, Judge Flynn noted that none of the serious charges were
sustainable, and that Lack, a veteran of nine years as a law enforcement
officer with five at the City of Irvine, had previously received
excellent personnel evaluations and numerous commendations.
Lack was relieved to
learn that his three-year ordeal with the department was finally over.
"I am grateful to have had the support of the Legal Defense Fund
and my panel attorney throughout this two year ordeal, and I can’t
emphasize enough how indispensable that support has been," he said.
"You always think that something like this will never happen to
you, but it’s great to know that as an LDF member you have the
resources to defend yourself if the worst happens."
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