What would you do?                                                                                    September 2004

Imagine that you are the county sheriff in a large urban, high growth county where you have served as a popular elected county sheriff for 20 years. To your dismay, you are informed that one of your sergeant's who has served the county for many years is charged with 129 counts of falsification of official documents, 144 counts of failure to follow standard operating procedures,  and conduct unbecoming a member of the sheriff's office--charges made by your internal affairs investigators. The deputy, as it turns out, coordinates all the work at the port authority and is in a position to log off-duty assignments for himself at the port that far exceed regular work week hours. The investigators charge that the sergeant knowingly cooked the books and over-rode computer programs to prevent others from knowing what he did.

What would you do with the sergeant? Put a letter of reprimand in his personnel file, ban him from working any off-duty assignments, suspend him, reduce him in rank, fire him? The sergeant's supervisor wants him suspended for 30 days and reduced to the rank of deputy. The disciplinary review board wants him fired. You are about to retire and don't need to worry about being re-elected any more. The allegations against the sergeant have been published in the local newspaper. What would you do?