VENTURA CORRECTIONS
SERVICES OFFICER RETURNED
TO WORK WITH FULL BACK PAY
On September 5, 1995,
Ventura County Corrections Services Officer (CSO) Patricia Sharpe was
terminated from her employment with the Ventura County Corrections
Services Agency for alleged violations of several agency policies and
procedures.
The termination notice
accused her of everything from failure to activate an alarm system to
physical abuse of a minor in custody. William McPoil of Employee
Representation Services, Inc., who represented Officer Sharpe in the
administrative appeal said the notice contained some 27 allegations of
misconduct. McPoil said, "it was the typical shotgun approach to
discipline. Pull the trigger and hope one or more of the pellets hits
the target."
The basic facts of case were: Sharpe, a 7 ˝ year veteran of the
Corrections Services Agency was on duty at Ventura County Juvenile Hall,
in charge of a unit that housed several male and female minors. One of
the minors, Rena L., was in custody awaiting a hearing.
As was confirmed in the
arbitration, she was in custody for beating her mother and for use of
methamphetamines. On June 22, 1995, while in a classroom setting, Rena
became disruptive and was ordered to go to her room for an unspecified
period of time. Once in her room she continued to be disruptive, but was
released by another CSO to use the restroom.
On her way back from
the restroorn she saw that Sharpe had given her a 48 hour restriction
for her behavior. She became very verbally abusive using profanity and
racial slurs in a very loud voice disrupting the entire wing of the
facility.
She was ordered back to
her room by Sharpe. She responded with more profanity and name calling
to the point where she planted her feet and refused to follow the
direction of the staff.
Seeing no other
alternative, Sharpe placed her hands on Rena and physically moved
her back to her room. Once in the room, Rena turned and punched Sharpe
in the face with a closed fist. Another attempted blow was blocked by
Sharpe. A second CSO standing outside the door pepper sprayed Rena who
was then subdued by Sharpe.
Sharpe left to assist in
locking down the other minors. When she returned to the common area, she
found the second staff member attempting to administer the required
"aftercare" to Rena. As she was doing it improperly, Sharpe
took the water bottle from her and began to administer the aftercare in
compliance with the agency's policy.
Rena became combative,
and at one point spit in Sharpe's face. Although she was handcuffed and
her legs were shackled, testimony revealed that she did in fact have the
ability to harm Sharpe.
Following the spitting
incident, Sharpe continued to administer the required aftercare but Rena
remained aggressive and combative. A short time later, she again tried
to come out of the chair she was in and spit on Sharpe.
At the exact time she was
coming up, Sharpe threw her hand out to protect herself and she ended up
striking Rena in the face causing her nose to bleed. Shortly after that
incident other staff arrived on the floor and the minor was controlled.
An investigation was
conducted that night, and Sharpe was placed on administrative leave
pending a more in depth inquiry. Following that investigation, Sharpe
was terminated and charged with a felony for abuse of an inmate under
color of authority.
Interestingly, Rena, who
committed a battery on a peace officer by hitting Sharpe and spitting on
her was never charged. In fact she was released by the county that night
to her mother's custody.
At the criminal trial
Sharpe was represented by LDF panel attorney Darryl Mounger and
ultimately acquitted. Following her acquittal, Frank Woodson, the agency
director, was quoted in the Los Angeles Times and
the Ventura County Star as saying, "Sharpe will not
get her job back even with the acquittal," and "... Sharpe's
acquittal is not enough to reinstate her employment... The agency will
fight to keep her from returning."
He acknowledged that she
had a right to an administrative appeal, and that appeal was finally
heard at the end of April 1996 by an arbitrator. Arbitrator Ronald Hoh
listened to two days of testimony.
The county’s counsel
tried to paint a picture of an abusive peace officer who looses her
composure and professionalism in the face of an obstinate minor. The
problem for the county was that they didn't have any witnesses to
substantiate that belief.
The county called several
witnesses. In fact, the county's case took all of the first day and part
of the morning of the second day of the hearing. Every county witness
was discredited to some degree during cross examination by McPoil. The
county's primary witness was even forced to admit during cross
examination that "there is a lot of things I said in there (his
written report) that didn't happen."
In his award Hoh
stated that when the county's witnesses' credibility were "measured
against the county's clear burden of proof in showing in this area that
the grievant is guilty of the misconduct of which she stands accused,
the arbitrator must find that the county has not met its burden.."
In other words, the
county didn't have a case. He ordered the county to reinstate Sharpe
with full back pay and no loss of seniority or benefits for the period
between the effective date of her termination and the date of her
reinstatement.
He left the door open for
the county to issue a letter of warning if they could show a specific
policy violation, but did not order such a warning be issued.
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