A three-member panel of city employees Friday voted to uphold a 30-day suspension that police officer Andrea Cherry received Jan. 13.
The panel, Assistant City Attorney Daryl Taylor, Transit Department Director Larry Reynolds and Fire Department Lt. Randy Compton, noted in a final disposition form sent to the city’s Human Resources Department that before Cherry received the suspension in January, she had signed forms acknowledging several prior violations of department policy.
Those violations included two incidents of insubordination with a range of punishment from suspension to termination, and two incidents of tardiness/failure to report with punishment ranging from a letter of counseling to a written reprimand.
Cherry, a former department Public Information Officer who is currently assigned as a School Resource Officer at Jack Robey Junior High School, was suspended for insubordination and for being late for juvenile court.
At a review panel hearing Wednesday, Cherry said she appealed the suspension because she felt Police Chief Brenda Davis-Jones “personally disliked me,” and the 30-day suspension was excessive because department policy called for a one day suspension for officers who missed court or were late for court.
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During the review hearing, Cherry said she was late because she was helping an assistant principal look for a reported weapon on campus, and when she received word from school principal Ronald Laurent that she was needed in court, she went immediately.
Davis-Jones said she had received a letter from Cherry’s supervisor, Sgt. Lynn Wright about Cherry’s behavior, which Wright described as “unbecoming an officer.”
Among the allegations Wright made were that Cherry missed mandatory firearms qualification and a make-up day; called in sick five times in November, did not report for work, and did not inform him in advance of a doctor’s appointment Cherry reportedly had in Little Rock that caused her to miss work.
Davis-Jones said Cherry had received a letter of reprimand and a three-day suspension in January 2011, in addition to the four violations the review panel mentioned in their final disposition form.
“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 about more than just missing one day of court.”
Cherry is currently scheduled to return to work on Monday.