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The Alton Civil Service Commission in a 3-0 vote accepted a recommendation by the City of Alton Labor Counsel to suspend Alton Police Capt. Scott Waldrup for 30 days, but he retains his position.
James Huff, Labor Counsel for the City of Alton, presented the proposal to the Civil Commission at an open meeting on Tuesday morning.
The Civil Service Commission pondered the issue for a few moments in closed session, but within about 15 minutes returned to issue a vote on the city’s recommendation.
“Discipline starts and ends with this commission,” Huff said to the commissioners before the vote. “The city is asking that Capt. Waldrup should be suspended for 30 unpaid days.” Huff said a primary consideration was Waldrup’s failure to inform Chief Jason Simmons of the evidence lockers’ deficiency in this issue.
The Civil Service Commission voted unanimously last Wednesday to recommend an order by Robert D. Litz, senior vice president and chief operating officer of United States Arbitration and Mediation of St. Louis, to drop all charges against Capt. Waldrup in the evidence destroying case.
This case started in July of last year when police discovered alleged destroyed evidence, not according to city procedure, that put some cases in jeopardy. A police officer was suspended during the investigation and the Grand Jury indicted him with official misconduct and he resigned.
Waldrup’s attorney Alton’s Lee Barron said he and his client believe the Civil Service Commission decision was an “aberration” and was improper for a number of reasons.
“The Civil Service Commission already voted last Wednesday and then in a six-day period, they changed their approach to this,” Barron said Tuesday afternoon. “That is obviously something troubling to us.”
Barron said the letter sent by Chief Simmons asked for Waldrup’s termination and that was rejected by an independent investigating officer Litz.
Barron said Waldrup is not in the chain of command to report this incident to the chief. He said Scott Golike, who at the time was chief of detectives, sent a guardian tracking entry to the chief of police about the evidence issue. He said it was not known to Golike or Waldrup that Simmons was not using his guardian tracking program.
When Chief Simmons found out what the problems were, he ordered an internal affairs investigation conducted by Lt. Adams. Adams cleared Waldrup of any wrong doing, Barron said.
The Civil Service Commission appointed Litz to issue a decision from a two-day trial and it cleared Waldrup again, Barron said. Then last Wednesday, the Civil Service Commission voted unanimously to accept the report.
“The City of Alton complained there was violation of the Open Meetings Act in the vote and I do understand the argument in that,” Barron said. “Today, they voted again and split the baby in half. They accepted Litz’s report and said the captain violated an unspecified rule or procedure and he will be given a 30-day suspension and gave him credit for time served.”
Barron repeated he is quite troubled by this and said he and Waldrup are still evaluating whether or not to appeal the suspension to the Madison County Civil Service Commission, a higher level.
Mayor Brant Walker issued the following statement regarding the Alton Civil Service Commission’s decision in the disciplinary case of Alton Police Department Captain Scott Waldrup:
“As I have stated previously, I made the decision to allow this disciplinary case to proceed because employees should be held accountable for their actions and I believe the preponderance of evidence in this case justified moving forward.
“While the Civil Service Commission decided that the City failed to meet its burden of proof with regard to discharge of the employee in question, the weight of the evidence and the seriousness of this incident required some form of discipline to be administered. The Civil Service Commission rightly chose to hold the employee in question accountable for his actions by imposing a 30-day suspension, the maximum discipline other than discharge allowed under state statute.
“The Civil Service Commission’s decision today demonstrates that the City of Alton will hold its employees accountable for their actions.
“I thank the Civil Service Commission for its service during this difficult disciplinary case. The disciplinary process is now complete and it is time to move forward in the best interest of our Police Department and City.”
Barron said Capt. Waldrup is ready to get back to work with the Alton Police Department and he hopes to have this situation completely resolved soon.
“I have a good relationship with Alton City Attorney Jim Schrempf and I am confident Jim and I could have worked this out a month ago,” he said. “It is our desire to move forward, but I just don’t know how forward he can with a 30-day suspension hanging over.
“I am cautiously optimistic we may be able to work something out. Enough is enough and enough of the taxpayer money is spent. Let the police department get back to doing what a police department should be doing and let’s move forward as grownups.”
