Pine Bluff Police Chief Brenda Davis-Jones said Wednesday the 30-day suspension given to Officer Andrea Cherry for insubordination and being late for court was justified because of a number of other violations in a 12-month period.
Cherry is a school resource officer at Jack Robey Junior High School and has formerly been the public information officer for the Police Department. She was suspended Jan. 13 and appealed that suspension to a city review panel committee, which replaced the Civil Service Commission when it was abolished last year.
That panel — Assistant City Attorney Darryl Taylor, Transit Department Director Larry Reynolds and Fire Department Lt. Randy Compton — heard Wednesday from both Cherry and Davis-Jones. The panel will announce its decision within 10 days.
Cherry said she appealed the suspension because she felt Davis-Jones “personally disliked me” and that the 30-day suspension was excessive based on department policy, which calls for a one-day suspension for officers who miss court or are late for court.
She said she was late because she was helping an assistant principal look for a weapon that was reported to be on campus and did not intend to be late.
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Cherry said there are instances when officers have to prioritize what they do and in this case, “I chose to search for the weapon.
“If lateness for court equals missing court, I should have been suspended for one day instead of 30 days,” Cherry said.
Questioned by Taylor, Cherry also said she had been disciplined before, but none of those were for missing or being late for court.
Davis-Jones said she was in Camden on another matter the day Cherry was late for court, but was told about it when Rod Shelby, the chief of staff for Juvenile Judge Earnest E. Brown Jr., came to her office to tell her that “Judge Brown was dismayed because this had happened before.”
Davis-Jones also said that Cherry had never been previously “written up” for missing court.
The chief said she received a letter from Cherry’s supervisor, Sgt. Lynn Wright, about Cherry’s behavior, which she said Wright described as “unbecoming for an officer.”
Davis-Jones said that included:
• Not showing up for mandatory firearms training the week of Oct. 24-27 and missing a make-up day;
• Calling in sick five times in November;
• Sending him a text on Dec. 3 that she would not be at work because she had a doctor’s appointment in Little Rock and not informing Wright of the appointment prior to that day;
• And not reporting for work on Dec. 21 and when Wright called her, she reportedly said she “forgot to come to work,” and upon being assigned to the Telephone Reporting Unit that same day, sending Wright a text that afternoon saying she was “sick and would not be coming back to work.”
Department protocol called for Cherry’s supervisor, Wright, to prepare a report of his observations, which went up the chain of command to Lt. Shirley Warrior, then to Deputy Chief Ricky Whitmore before going to Davis-Jones, who said Cherry had received a letter of reprimand and a three-day suspension, both in January 2011.
“I believe in progressive discipline but if you go back 12 months, she had four write-ups and acknowledged each one,” Davis-Jones said. “I do not require my deputy chiefs to make recommendations but this was not about just missing one day of court.”
Regarding being late for court, Davis-Jones said Cherry could have contacted her supervisor who would have gone to court for her and explained the situation, an option Cherry said she was unaware of, and one the chief acknowledged is not in the department’s policy manual.
“If you’re going to be late for an appointment, you have to notify your supervisor,’ Davis-Jones said.
Summing up, Cherry said her suspension was “harsh and unequal to what others (officers) have received and not based on progressive discipline,” while Davis-Jones said “even if she didn’t go back 12 months, those violations warrant a 30-day suspension.”