cannabisnews.com: Officer is Returned to Force!





Officer is Returned to Force!
Posted by FoM on August 26, 1999 at 10:09:55 PT
By Gregory Korte, Beacon Journal staff writer 
Source: Akron Beacon Journal
An Akron police officer who admitted to smoking marijuana was reinstated yesterday after a divided Civil Service Commission ruled that his firing was ``excessive.''
The decision means Kenneth Clark, an 18-year patrol veteran who was in line to become the department's top traffic accident investigator, can go back to work this week. He was reinstated without back pay -- meaning his punishment, in effect, amounts to a four-month suspension.By a 2-1 vote, the Civil Service Commission said Clark should not have been fired for ``an isolated use of marijuana.''City Hall quickly denounced the decision.Matt Contessa, the deputy mayor for labor relations, said the two commissioners who voted to reinstate Clark -- James Frost and Virginia Robinson -- were ``brain dead.''``That's the kind of message you send to taxpayers? That's the kind of message you send to the new recruits who were just sworn in last Friday?'' Contessa said. ``He's supposed to be arresting people who use drugs. And the commission put him back to work.''Clark, 40, admitted to smoking marijuana with a woman in a motel room the evening of March 21. The next day, his was one of 45 names randomly selected for a drug screening test.He admitted his drug use to police and city officials, and was fired April 15.The commission said the ``facts and circumstances'' of Clark's case did not warrant a firing, but did not elaborate on what facts and circumstances they took into account.In a rare dissenting opinion, commission Chairman Sidney Foster Jr. said the Akron Police Department has ``a long, consistent past practice of zero tolerance'' for drug use.``I am concerned that the decision by the majority of the members of this commission today may be misinterpreted by members of the Akron Police Department to believe that they will receive a second chance if they engage in illegal drug use,'' Foster wrote.The commission ruled that Clark would be immediately fired if he tests positive again, and gave the Police Department the authority to test Clark again at any time during the next two years.Larry Vuillemin, Clark's Fraternal Order of Police lawyer, said the commission's punishment was fair.``It's not that he's gone unpunished in all this. He's in anguish over the shame that he's brought on himself and his family and the department,'' he said.During a two-day hearing last month, a half-dozen police officers vouched for Clark's character. Other officials, some of whom were elected, wrote letters on his behalf.Vuillemin said the commission was right to take those statements into account.``He loves the work that he does, and thats reflected by the feedback he receives from the community,'' Vuillemin said. ``I admire this fellow. I think he's a man of integrity. He's got a great record. If any of my loved ones were in peril, I would hope that an officer like Ken Clark would respond.''Contessa, the deputy mayor, said the commission's ruling would have no effect on how he would enforce the drug policy.``As long as I'm here, for whatever time that's going to be, our recommendation on positive drug tests in the police and fire departments is that they're going to be discharged,'' he said. ``If the commission wants to bring them back, so be it.''Members of the Civil Service Commission, who are appointed by the mayor and serve six-year terms, hear appeals of disciplinary actions against classified city or school employees.Contessa said city lawyers would decide whether to appeal the Clark decision in Summit County Common Pleas Court.Hours before the decision was released, Mayor Don Plusquellic addressed the city's drug testing policy at a news conference. He said the city aggressively roots out ``bad apples,'' and that the zero-tolerance policy ``ought to send a message that this is a clean department and we're not going to tolerate wrongdoing.''Plusquellic said Akron is the only city in Summit County with mandatory drug testing for police officers. In the four years since the city implemented the policy, Clark is only the fourth to have tested positive.``Does that mean that we're the only department that's bad, and the rest are all good?'' the mayor said. ``I don't believe that.''Pubdate: August 26, 1999The Beacon Journal Publishing Co.
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