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Wayne
White | Managing Editor
CARBONDALE—Two Carbondale police officers were fired during
a Feb. 9 special meeting of the city council, but the reasons for
the terminations have not been made public.
Carbondale City Clerk Sandy Schiffelbein confirmed Friday that officers
Greg Wallace and Shane Quigley had been terminated. Schiffelbein
referred all other inquiries to city attorney Sue DeVoe, who said
the city had no comment on the firings.
Carbondale Mayor Ruth Towne said she did not agree with the council’s
action.
“I was very much against it,” Towne said Tuesday morning.
“I don’t think there was enough evidence to do this,
that’s all I can say.”
Contacted Monday, Wallace said he was told the reason he was fired
was because he obtained a soft drink at Casey’s General Store
without paying for it. He said it had been a common practice for
the store to provide drinks to officers who regularly stood by while
clerks closed the store each evening.
“They told me I was terminated for taking a fountain drink
at close even though I had the clerk’s permission at Casey’s,”
Wallace said. “They also fired officer Quigley for the same
thing.”
Quigley, who also works as a part-time officer for the city of Overbrook,
could not be reached for comment.
Wallace said he had been suspended with pay at the Feb. 2 regular
council meeting, after being told that a clerk from the store had
filed a sexual harassment complaint against him and complained of
him taking a drink without paying for it.
Wallace said DeVoe later told him there was no evidence of harassment,
but the store’s videotape showed him leaving the store without
paying for the soft drink.
“The police department closes Casey’s every night,”
Wallace said, “and while waiting to close, they offer us free
pops.”
Casey’s chief financial officer, Bill Walljasper, said Tuesday
that Casey’s did not have a corporate policy on providing
free drinks to law enforcement personnel.
Carbondale Police Chief Adam Marion said he was aware of officers
standing by while Casey’s employees closed the store.
“They were doing that on my orders, basically,” Marion
said Tuesday. “Every night about 10:30, they wait until [the
store clerks] got to their cars. I was not aware of the whole situation
of free drinks.”
Marion said it was against city policies for any city employee to
accept gifts of any kind.
He said he had no opinion on whether the officers should have been
fired and could not confirm whether the officers were fired for
the same reasons.
“The city council never officially said why they were fired,”
Marion said. “They just made an announcement both officers
were fired – didn’t say a reason. There were other things
discussed in closed session.”
According to the unofficial minutes of the Feb. 9 special meeting,
the council held a one-hour executive session to discuss personnel.
Afterwards, council president Mike Fulton made a motion to terminate
employment of Quigley and Wallace. The motion was seconded by council
member Patty Kreshel and approved by the council, although the minutes
did not indicate how individual council members voted on the motion.
Although Wallace said he was told he was fired due to theft of the
soft drink, DeVoe confirmed Tuesday that no criminal investigation
was ongoing due to the allegation. DeVoe would not say if complaints
had been filed against Wallace or Quigley.
Wallace said his termination was just one in a series of officer
firings at Carbondale.
“I had been targeted by that city council since I had wrecked
the patrol car back on Oct. 29, 2007,” he said. “They
had been harassing me and targeting me and creating false complaints.
I’m constantly having to prove myself innocent of different
things.”
He said he had a clean work record and had no complaints in his
personnel file, noting he had been cleared of any wrongdoing in
an incident that happened last year during the city’s street
dance.
In that incident, a parent accused Wallace of improper treatment
of a minor at the dance. An investigation by a Missouri police department
determined “Wallace conducted himself in a safe and professional
manner given the situation which was at hand the night of the incident.”
Wallace noted the city council had recently given him merit and
longevity raises and he had been promoted to rank of corporal Aug.
1.
“I went from having a very clear work record to being terminated,”
Wallace said.
Wallace said he intends to dispute his termination, with no other
choice if he wishes to continue a career in law enforcement.
“I stand for justice and I’m not going to have them
steal my badge like that,” Wallace said.
Although the police department is short two officers, Marion said
the department will continue to patrol the city utilizing part-time
officers.
“We got it covered,” Marion said. “I’m working
a heck of a lot more hours myself. We’ll have the same full
level of coverage as we had before.”
Quigley had been a full-time officer at Carbondale for one year;
Wallace had been a full-time officer for over two years. |
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