Officer is Reinstated

When San Rafael Corporal Daniel Hanlon returned the keys to a city car after attending a training class, little did he know that a chance encounter with the city manager would nearly jeopardize a spotless 24-year career. Thankfully, Legal Defense Fund panel attorney Alison Berry-Wilkinson, of Carroll, Burdick & McDonough, was able to prove that Hanlon did not lie and the city’s decision to demote him from corporal to officer, and to suspend him for 30 days, was completely unwarranted.

On Sunday, November 3, 1996, Hanlon worked a late swing shift. Hanlon decided to return the pool car that day so it would be available for whomever might need it the first thing Monday morning.

After his briefing, Hanlon told his sergeant that he had to “go upstairs to the manager’s office to return keys.” As he made the statement, Hanlon showed the sergeant the car keys that he was holding in his hand.

The sergeant however, claimed that after briefing was over, he was headed outside for a cigarette break when Hanlon mumbled, “I have to go upstairs. I have a meeting with the manager.” The sergeant did not question him and did not notice whether Hanlon had any keys in his hand.

Hanlon proceeded upstairs from the police department to the city manager’s office. On his way, Hanlon picked up a copy of the local free newspaper in the City Hall lobby.

Once inside the city manager’s office suite, Hanlon left the pool car keys on the secretary’s desk and wrote a note indicating that the odometer on the pool car was not working properly, since Hanlon had noticed during the time he had the car that the number of miles accumulated was far below the number of miles driven.

After writing the note, he picked up the newspaper and was about to leave the office when he encountered the city manager. Because the city manager was new, he and Hanlon had never before met.

Hanlon and the city manager were startled to encounter each other on this Sunday evening. Hanlon recalled that he began the conversation by noting that the manager “had to be from Southern California,” since the San Francisco 49ers were playing a critical game that evening. The manager then commented that although his sons were watching the game, he had lots of work to do.

According to Hanlon, he then gestured at the city manager with the local newspaper and indicated that he had been reading good things about the manager. They then discussed the concept of community policing, as well as the nature of the training class that Hanlon had just returned from.

Hanlon did not tell the manager that his purpose for being in the office was to return the pool car keys. After the conversation was over, Hanlon left the city manager’s office, and went “in service”.

The city manager claimed that, while he was working in his office on a Sunday evening, he heard a suspicious noise that he set out to investigate. He then observed Hanlon, who appeared to be coming out of the office of an assistant city manager.

The manager recollected that he asked Hanlon who he was and that Hanlon stated that he had gone into the assistant city manager’s office to obtain a copy of the local newspaper so that he could read an article written about the manager.

The city manager stated that he was puzzled about Hanlon’s purported purpose for being in the office since the local newspaper was readily available in numerous public locations throughout the city. However, the manager testified that he decided not to embarrass Hanlon by questioning him about this incident and, instead, they went on to talk about community policing and the training class that Hanlon had attended.

Several days after the incident, Hanlon’s sergeant mentioned to his captain that Hanlon had met with the city manager during his work shift. Several weeks after that, the captain asked the city manager why he had met with one of his officers on a Sunday evening.

The city manager informed the captain that no meeting had taken place and that he had a chance encounter with Hanlon in his office. Almost a month later, the city manager requested that the Police Department investigate Hanlon for lying to his sergeant to cover up his “snooping” in the city manager’s office.

After conducting an internal investigation, the city recommended that Hanlon, who in his 24-year career had never before been disciplined, be terminated. However, after the predisciplinary hearing, the chief decided to rescind the termination recommendation and simply demote Hanlon from the position of corporal and to suspend him for 30 days.

The city based its discipline upon an allegation that Hanlon had lied, both to the sergeant, the city manager and the internal affairs investigator concerning the reason he was in the city manager’s office on that Sunday evening. The city claimed that Hanlon told his sergeant that he had a meeting with the manager, that Hanlon told the manager that he was in the office to obtain a copy of the local newspaper and that he told the internal affairs investigator that he had gone to the manager’s office to return the pool car keys.

Arbitrator William Ward concluded that each of the witnesses, the sergeant, the city manager, and Hanlon were all truthful concerning their recollection of the conversations that occurred on that ill-fated Sunday evening. The arbitrator noted that, by the time allegations of misconduct were levied against Hanlon, each of the witnesses was asked to recall, in extensive detail, an innocuous conversation that had taken place many weeks before.

The arbitrator also noted that the actions of the city manager and the sergeant at the time of the conversation were inconsistent with what they claimed had occurred.

Consequently, arbitrator Ward, upon the urging of Legal Defense Fund panel attorney Alison Berry-Wilkinson, held that the city did not have just cause to suspend Hanlon for 30 days and demote him from the rank of corporal. The arbitrator ordered the city to reinstate Hanlon to the position of corporal, repay the 30-day suspension, and reimburse Hanlon for lost wages resulting from the demotion.