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Baltimore Sun - United States
22 July 2007

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Police jobs on the line

County Executive John R. Leopold might seek legislation to settle a dispute over the Police Department's recent ban on officers taking second jobs at businesses that serve alcohol.

Leopold said he is considering stepping in after a veteran officer sued the Anne Arundel County Police Department in protest of Chief James Teare Sr.'s order, based on an opinion he sought from the county's Ethics Commission. Teare rescinded his ban July 11, the day the suit was filed, pending the outcome of the case.

A lawyer for the officer maintained in the suit that scores of police work in restaurants that serve liquor.

Officers contend that the ban would hurt their ability to supplement their incomes while making them less available to respond to emergency calls when off duty. But the county's top ethics official believes such jobs could confuse the public about the department's allegiances.

Leopold said Friday he would consult with members of the County Council and the Office of Law to determine "if a legislative remedy may be appropriate." He declined to elaborate.

Thomas P. Middleton, who brought the suit on behalf of the Fraternal Order of Police and is represented by the union's attorneys, said in court filings that he works two jobs beyond his duties as a corporal in the Western District.

Middleton said in an affidavit that he has been able to supplement his income by as much as $14,000 a year by taking jobs doing security at restaurants, including TGI Friday's. His outside employment was approved by the Police Department.

"You remove those secondary jobs and you're cutting someone's salary," said O'Brien Atkinson, president of the county's Fraternal Order of Police. "That can have a very dramatic effect on the household."

A spokesman for the Police Department said the agency would not comment on current litigation.

The dispute appears to stem from at least three overlapping policies. In 1999, the ethics commission issued a ruling that prohibited a county police officer from having an ownership interest in a restaurant with a liquor license or from working on behalf of the restaurant. The commission worried that employment relationships would impair an officer's "impartial and independent judgment."

Still, the Police Department under then-chief P. Thomas Shanahan continued to adhere to a 1994 agency directive on secondary employment that regularly granted approval for officers to work at restaurants with liquor licenses, as long as serving alcohol was not the primary service of the business and the officer did not act as a bouncer.

According to court records, Teare recently sought clarification on the inconsistency. In a three-page response issued July 2, Betsy K. Dawson, executive director of the ethics commission - whose members now include Shanahan - reaffirmed that the presence of officers would create an appearance of a conflict of interest.

Her decision, in part, draws from yet another department policy, which requires officers to wear their county-issued uniforms while working secondary jobs.

Dawson, who could not be reached for comment Friday, wrote that a conflict of interest "exists when a police officer, wearing a county uniform, and appearing to be acting as an employee of the county, is acting primarily on behalf of, and being paid by, a secondary employer who is subject to specific police regulatory authority."

The next day, Teare revoked the department's policy and said future requests would be denied.

"The Police Department respects the opinion of the Ethics Commission and will not permit police officers to work as private security for any entity that is a liquor licensee," Teare said in an internal memo. He urged officers to quit their second jobs at such establishments by July 13.

Middleton is one of "scores of Anne Arundel County officers who work at restaurants with liquor licenses," his lawyers contend in court filings.

Though the union filed a grievance, a lawsuit was filed as Teare's deadline for officers to quit the second jobs neared. Middleton volunteered to lend his name to the effort, Atkinson said.

Atkinson said it was far-fetched to suggest officers should not work at restaurants because of the agency's role in policing such establishments.

"The fact of the matter is, we have regulatory authority over every citizen and every business in Anne Arundel County," Atkinson said. "By virtue of [Dawson's] opinion, we couldn't work for a community association, because our allegiance would go to the community association president."

Atkinson said he did not fault Teare, who took over the department in January. He called Dawson's decision a "second strike" against officers' ability to supplement their income. In 2004, the ethics commission also prohibited officers from working at bingo parlors, saying bingo is a licensed business that is subject to regulatory oversight by the Police Department.

"[Dawson] doesn't think officers should be paid by anyone other than county government, because they're going to forget who we're working for," Atkinson said. "I find that mentality offensive."

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Baltimore Sun - United States22 July 2007

Police jobs on the line

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Baltimore Sun - United States
22 July 2007