A civilian appeal review panel decided Friday to cut in half the suspension time given to a Pine Bluff Police detective who was suspended after he was unable to find his off-duty gun in February.
Charles Marty Harrison was suspended for 10 days without pay on Feb. 10 by Police Chief Brenda Davis-Jones, but the Review Committee reduced that suspension to five days in a ruling released Friday afternoon.
The panel — which included Fire and Emergency Services Lt. Harold Clark, Civic Center Complex Maintenance Supervisor Steve Stephens and Assistant City Attorney Daryl Taylor — also recommended that the police department develop a “streamlined outline for disciplinary actions,” noting, “punishment seems to be arbitrary.”
Both Harrison and Assistant Police Chief Ivan Whitfield were placed on administrative leave with pay Feb. 2 after separate investigations involving missing weapons.
Eight days later, Harrison was suspended for 10 days and Whitfield was fired by Davis-Jones. The following Monday, the City Council reinstated Whitfield by a 7-1 vote.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
During a review hearing on the suspension Wednesday, Harrison said his gun was not lost.
“It was at home where I thought it was,” he said. “It was in the closet where I thought it was, but it wasn’t in the exact place where I thought it was.”
Harrison told the panel the gun had fallen off the top shelf of a closet and behind a bin and could not be seen without moving the bin.
“I called my wife and told her I had been placed on administrative leave and she said she knew where it (the gun) was,” Harrison said. “She was trying to teach me a lesson in looking for things myself.”
Defending her decision to suspend Harrison for 10 days, Davis-Jones said, “a gun is like a child. You have to know where it is.”
The chief also said it was not like Harrison lost another piece of equipment like a flashlight or a radio.
“I do not tolerate officers not taking care of their equipment,” she said. “We have to hold officers to a higher standard and losing a weapon is something we don’t tolerate. If it had been a flashlight or a radio, he may have gotten less time off.”
Harrison completed his suspension and returned to duty last Monday.