Public policy, police use of force, condonation and the likelihood of recidivism

It took an arbitration, two court decisions and a second arbitration, discussing issues of police use of force, condonation of misconduct, due process, public policy and potential recidivism, but former Des Plaines, IL police officer John Bueno may once again be returning to the force.

Officer Bueno began his employment with the Des Plaines PD in April, 2002. He was considered a hard working officer who received repeated commendations for his performance. He generally received good performance reviews, both before and after the incidents in issue.

In June 2009, he pushed an arrestee who was confined in the station holding cell after hearing the individual make vulgar comments about his daughter. In January 2010 he punched an arrestee in the nose while inside the police station, and in August 2010 he punched a handcuffed prisoner who was seated in the back of his parol car. Grievant did not report the use of force in any of these incidents, as he was required to do by Department policy. Superiors in the Department were aware at least of the later two incidents but took no action.

Almost a year later, in August 2011, the Acting City Manager received letter from an attorney alleging that Bueno had "brutally beaten" prisoners. The Acting Manager subsequently testified that this was the first he became aware of these allegations. He asked the Deputy Chief to conduct an investigation and, following that investigation, the City terminated Bueno's employment in March of 2012. The allegations against Bueno included both the improper use of force and dishonesty during the investigation. The parties agreed to submit the propriety of that termination directly to arbitration, and on May 3, 2013 Arbitrator Peter Feuille issued an award (here) upholding, in part, the grievance. Arbitrator Feuille concluded that the City had established the improper use of force and that Bueno had not been truthful during the investigation. Nevertheless he found that the City had deprived him of due process by delaying the investigation for so long, and that the Department had condoned the use of force by failing to take any action against Bueno despite knowledge of the incidents. He ordered Bueno's reinstatement without back pay and imposed a three year last chance provision for any future violation of the use of force policy or the Department's truthfulness policy. The award is discussed at Arbitrator overturns termination despite finding "unnecessary, unjustified, unreasonable" use of force because of due process considerations

The City sought to vacate the award, claiming that reinstating Bueno despite the findings of improper use force and dishonesty was contrary to public policy. The circuit court agreed and vacated the award. It also denied the Union's request to remand the dispute back to the arbitrator for a factual finding concerning the likelihood that Bueno would reoffend.

The Union appealed, and the Appellate Court concluded that it could not decide the appeal without evidence of "whether Bueno is likely to engage in similar misconduct upon reinstatement." City of Des Plaines v. Metropolitan Alliance of Police, Chapter No. 240. In reaching this conclusion, the Court first addressed the public policy issue raised by the City. It noted that the Illinois Supreme Court (in AFSCME v. Department of Central Management Services) held that the public policy analysis on a challenge to an arbitration award required a two step process. First, the Court must determine if there is a "well-established and dominant policy implicated by the arbitrator's award."

In this case, the court found that there was:

we find that the arbitration award here implicates a well-defined and dominant public policy, namely, the public policy against police officers unnecessarily using force against prisoners and being dishonest about that use of force during a subsequent investigation.

The second prong then an analysis of "whether the arbitrator's award, as reflected in his interpretation of the agreement, violated the public policy."

Applying that second prong to the case before it, the Appellate Court described the issue as :

whether the arbitrator's award, i.e., reinstatement of Bueno as a police officer under the terms and conditions attached to his reinstatement, resulted in a violation of the established public policy of ensuring that law enforcement officers refrain from using unnecessary or unreasonable force, failing to report such incidents if they occur, and being untruthful during investigations of the incidents.

The court determined that the record, including the arbitrator's award, was devoid of any finding on the "likelihood of recidivism" and that without such a finding it couldn't determine whether reinstatement was contrary to public policy. Accordingly it ordered the remand of the case to the arbitrator an express finding on this question.

Arbitrator James R. Cox (appointed after the death of Arbitrator Fuille) has now concluded that Bueno is unlikely to engage in similar conduct in the future. Arbitrator Cox's award can be found here.

Arbitrator Cox noted that since the incidents in question the apartment has a new Chief. He noted changes in both the environment of the police department and the unlikelihood of future offenses by the grievant:

That conclusion is based not only on the positive recognition of his performance as a Des Plaines Police Officer, but upon Steps the City has taken after the 2011 disclosures of Bueno's misconduct in the [redacted] cases. Those Steps changed his working environment by eliminating the previous climate of condonation within the City of Des Plaines Police Department.
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John Bueno now knows without question, that the City of Des Plaines and their Police Department do not approve of use of excessive force towards prisoners.

Arbitrator Cox also noted that the last chance provision that was part of Arbitrator Feuille's reinstatement order makes it unlikely that Bueno would engage in similar acts in the future.

According to news reports, while the City has not made a final decision on whether it will appeal the case once again, grievant will likely be returning to the department. Bueno Might Be Back By August.

Arbitrator overturns termination despite finding "unnecessary, unjustified, unreasonable" use of force because of due process considerations

Arbitrator Peter Feuille has sustained in part a grievance filed on behalf of a Des Plaines, IL police officer dismissed for alleged excessive use of force.  The incidents in issue occurred in June of 2009 and January of 2010.

In August of 2011, the Acting City Manager received a letter accusing the grievant of having "brutally beaten" several arrestees. He testified that this was the first he learned of the allegations, and he assigned a Deputy Chief to conduct an investigation. The investigation took place during the last four months of 2011 and concluded in an investigatory report dated December 30, 2011. In accord with the recommendations of the report, the City terminated the employment of grievant in March of 2012, and the Union (Metropolitan Association of Police, Chapter No. 240) brought the dispute to arbitration.

After a lengthy review of the evidence, Arbitrator Feuille concluded that grievant's use of force was "unnecessary, unjustified, unreasonable, and clearly in violation of [General Order] 10.01." He also concluded that grievant had improperly failed to report his use of force, contrary to the Department's reporting mandate. Finally, he determined that grievant's explanation during the investigation of why he had struck an individual he was transporting "not remotely credible" and, as a result, found the grievant was not truthful in his explanation. This untruthfulness, the Arbitrator concluded, violated the Department rule requiring officers "to be truthful at all times, whether under oath or not." The Arbitrator also found a second incident of improper use of force, and two additional instances of failure to report the use of force. Summarizing his findings, the Arbitrator noted:

 Putting this evidence together, it shows the following. First, the Grievant improperly used force ..., in violation of Department policy .... Second, the Grievant failed to report the use of force .... Third, during his November 2011 interrogation  the Grievant was untruthful about why he used unjustified and excessive force ... , also in violation of Department policy. As indicated in the analysis above, the evidence provides very strong proof of the Grievant's egregious misconduct.

Notwithstanding this conclusion, however, the Arbitrator also noted that "there is more to the concept of  discipline for just cause than proof of wrongdoing. The City also must satisfy the due process considerations incorporated into the just cause concept in order to demonstrate that just cause existed for the Grievant's termination." The Arbitrator found that the City failed to meet this element of just cause.

  Arbitrator Feuille concluded that the delay between the incidents in issue and the discipline was unwarranted and potentially harmful to the grievant. He observed:

Ultimately we will never know what information was lost by the lengthy delay in conducting the City's investigation. But the possibility that this delay may have prejudiced the ability of the Union to defend the Grievant in this matter cannot be overlooked. Accordingly, I find that the long delay in the City's investigation of the Grievant's misconduct, and the concomitant delay in disciplining the Grievant, means the City's discharge of the Grievant was procedurally flawed.

He rejected the City's contention that it was unaware of the facts until receipt by the Acting City Manager of the letter in August of 2011. He noted that the Department's Command Staff was aware of, and tolerated, Grievant's use of force, and was therefore "partly at fault" for the Grievant's misconduct. He determined that this tolerance  of misconduct "constitutes a second due process consideration that prevents the Grievant's discharge for being for just cause."

However, the Arbitrator concluded that these procedural shortcomings "do not exonerate" grievant of his serious misconduct. He ordered the grievant reinstated  without back pay, with the time off treated as a disciplinary suspension. He further provided that the reinstatement be on a "last chance" basis for three years from the reinstatement, with any similar violation entitling the City to immediately discharge grievant, with the Arbitrator hearing any arbitration arising from such a termination.

Arbitrator Feuille's Award, with certain names redacted, can be found here.


Update: A Cook County court has overturned Arbitrator Feuille's award  Judge upholds firing of Des Plaines cop

Fitness for duty, just cause and the role of the arbitrator

These were the topics addressed in a recent decision of the Appellate Court of Illinois in The City of Rockford v. Policemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, Unit 6.

Grievant was employed by the City as a police officer. In August of 2009 he was involved in an altercation involving a hand to hand struggle with a suspect over the officer's weapon. During the altercation grievant shot and killed the suspect. The case was presented to a grand jury but no indictment followed. Grievant was not disciplined for his actions during this incident. After the shooting, grievant was placed on paid leave and was treated for PTSD. In July of 2010 the Chief ordered him to report for a psychological fitness for duty exam. The city retained an expert to examine grievant, and grievant, as was his right under the labor agreement, retained his own expert.

The City's expert found grievant unfit for duty, while grievant's reached a contrary conclusion. Relying on the report of its retained doctor, the City terminated grievant's employment. That termination was grieved and submitted to Arbitrator Elizabeth Simon for resolution.

The arbitration hearing was bifurcated. The arbitrator first addressed the Union's contention that in light of the conflicting medical opinions the City had no right to proceed to termination. The arbitrator rejected this claim, finding that there was no contractual prohibition on the City proceeding but noting that any decision was subject to the just cause provision of the labor agreement. The matter then proceeded to a second hearing on whether the City's action was supported by just cause.

After the second hearing the arbitrator found that the City failed to prove grievant's unfitness for duty. She largely rejected the conclusion of the City's doctor and found grievant's expert more persuasive. She ordered the City to reinstate grievant to the position he held immediately prior to his termination. However, she further ordered that before he could return to active duty he would be required to be evaluated by a third psychologist whose fitness determination would be final.

The City sought to vacate Arbitrator Simon's award. The circuit court confirmed the just cause portion of the award, but vacated the remedy provision, remanding the case to the arbitrator to create a new remedy in which the arbitrator retained decision-making authority. The City appealed that decision, and the Union appealed the Court's rejection of its efforts to obtain back pay.

The Appellate Court has now affirmed, upholding of the arbitrator's just cause determination but vacating that portion of the award dealing with the remedy.

The court found no basis to overturn the arbitrator's just cause analysis. It rejected the City's public policy challenge, finding it "based on rejecting a factual determination by the arbitrator." It also questioned the City's approach, noting:

The City’s argument that it should not be limited by section 1.2’s just-cause requirement caused much confusion in this case. The City essentially argued that it should have the power to terminate based on section 15.15 alone (unfitness), without the limitations of section 1.2 (just cause). In this way, the City encouraged the arbitrator to view the ultimate question as one of fitness, not just cause. By encouraging the arbitrator to view the ultimate question as one of fitness, the City forfeited an opportunity to argue that, even if [grievant's] mental condition did not rise to the level of unfitness, [grievant's] mental condition, combined with other factors, such as policy violations and firearm misuse, could constitute just cause to terminate. We believe that, in erroneously framing the ultimate question as one of fitness, the City invited the arbitrator to issue the somewhat confusing analysis of which the City now complains, including a weak comparison of the experts and a seemingly dissonant remedy. The award reads as though the arbitrator did not realize that she could both find [grievant] unfit and still find no just cause to terminate (based on mitigating factors such as trauma incurred on the job, and, despite prior policy violations, a good disciplinary record and, thus, effective condonation by the department of the policy violations and firearm misuse (see, e.g., Des Plaines, 2015 IL App (1st) 140957, ¶ 13, ¶ 21)). For the reasons stated, however, the arbitrator’s somewhat confusing analysis does not provide a basis to set aside the award in favor of a cleaner analysis, particularly where the City encouraged the arbitrator to view the case as it did.

As to the remedy, however, the Court found that the arbitrator exceeded her authority by effectively delegating the final decision to a psychologist:

The parties bargained for an arbitrator to decide the remedy, not a psychologist. ...Here, the arbitrator placed the question of [grievant's] return to active duty at the sole discretion of a psychologist. We agree with the circuit court that the arbitrator’s remedy “punts” a decision to a psychologist and, thereby, abdicates all “hallmarks of adjudicative procedure.”

The court also found the award inconsistent with the cba, pursuant to which the Chief can appoint an expert and the officer subject to an exam may procure his or her own expert.

Accordingly the court vacated the entire remedy portion of the award and remanded the issue to the arbitrator, which also allows the Union to renew its claim for back pay.