Opinion ID: 1214368
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Pre-deprivation Due Process.

Text: The United States Supreme Court has considered the process due a discharged employee with the right to continued employment and the process due a suspended student with the right to education. Loudermill, 470 U.S. at 542, 105 S.Ct. at 1493; Goss, 419 U.S. at 581, 95 S.Ct. at 740. In Goss, the Court determined that due process entitled a student facing suspension to oral or written notice of the charges against him and, if he denies them, an explanation of the evidence the authorities have and an opportunity to present his side of the story. Goss, 419 U.S. at 581, 95 S.Ct. at 740. The Court did not require a delay between the time notice is given and the time of the hearing, meaning that in the great majority of cases due process was served by the disciplinarian informally discussing the alleged misconduct with the student minutes after it occurred. The Court held only that, in being given an opportunity to explain his version of the facts at this discussion, the student first be told what he is accused of doing and what the basis of the accusation is. Goss, 419 U.S. at 582, 95 S.Ct. at 740. Balancing the student's interest against the school's, the Court found that the student's interest in not being unfairly excluded from the education process did not require further formalizing the suspension process and escalating its formality and adversary nature. In its view it not only may make it too costly as a regular disciplinary tool, but also may destroy its effectiveness as part of the teaching process. Goss, 419 U.S. at 583, 95 S.Ct. at 741. In the discharge case of Loudermill, the Court employed the test set out in Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 96 S.Ct. 893, 47 L.Ed.2d 18 (1976), of balancing the competing interests at stake. Loudermill, 470 U.S. at 542, 105 S.Ct. at 1493. Those competing interests are the employee's interest in retaining employment, the government's interest in expeditiously removing unsatisfactory employees and avoiding administrative burdens, and guarding against the risk of an erroneous deprivation. The Court determined that before termination, an employee with a protected property right is entitled to oral or written notice of the charges against him, an explanation of the employer's evidence, and an opportunity to present his side of the story before discharge. Loudermill, 470 U.S. at 546, 105 S.Ct. at 1495. These cases teach that an employee facing suspension without pay is probably entitled to more due process than Goss afforded a suspended student and less due process than Loudermill afforded a discharged employee. Gillard, 857 F.2d at 1099; Garraghty, 830 F.2d at 1300. In determining what process is due Officer Mondt, the timing and content of the notice and the nature of the hearing depend on appropriately accommodating the competing interests involved. Goss, 419 U.S. at 579-80, 95 S.Ct. at 738-39. The competing interests here are claimed to be Officer Mondt's interest at stake in preserving her pay and other office emoluments from an unwarranted suspension; Cheyenne's claim that its police department has an interest in swiftly correcting misconduct in order to maintain discipline and integrity in a paramilitary type organization; and our perception that the risk of error is substantial because the action came upon the report and advice of others and Officer Mondt disputes the allegations. In weighing these claimed interests we note that it is judicially recognized that law enforcement often relies on a paramilitary organizational structure to develop discipline, esprit de corps, and uniformity because of its substantial interest in insuring the safety of persons and property. Hughes v. Whitmer, 714 F.2d 1407, 1419 (8th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1023, 104 S.Ct. 1275, 79 L.Ed.2d 680 (1984); see also Kelley v. Johnson, 425 U.S. 238, 246-47, 96 S.Ct. 1440, 1445-46, 47 L.Ed.2d 708 (1976). Decisions have recognized that a highway patrol organization has a substantial interest in regulating activities of its officers in order to promote efficiency, foster loyalty and obedience to superior officers, maintain morale, and instill public confidence in the law enforcement institution, Gasparinetti v. Kerr, 568 F.2d 311, 315-16 (3rd Cir.1977), cert. denied, 436 U.S. 903, 98 S.Ct. 2232, 56 L.Ed.2d 401 (1978); Wilson v. Taylor, 658 F.2d 1021, 1027 (5th Cir.1981), and a fire department like a police department has greater than normal government interest in maintaining morale and discipline. Janusaitis v. Middlebury Volunteer Fire Dept., 607 F.2d 17, 26 (2nd Cir.1979). We agree that the police department as a paramilitary force does have a significant interest in swift disciplinary action; however, this interest does not outweigh Officer Mondt's important property interest or our recognition that policemen, like teachers and lawyers, are not [to be] relegated to a watered-down version of constitutional rights. Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U.S. 493, 500, 87 S.Ct. 616, 620, 17 L.Ed.2d 562 (1967). The police department's interest is also subject to the substantial risk of error presented in this case. The record indicates that an internal affair's investigation report resulted in Mondt's suspension. The department's rules state that an internal affair's investigation will be initiated upon the police chief's assignment of a supervisor. The investigator must submit a detailed written report including all facts, all interviews, all evidence, a finding and a recommendation. The rules specifically require the investigation be well documented with a file that contains all reports, statements, and any other documentation and which confines the investigation to the issue at question. Review of this file is at the chief's discretion if ordered by a court, requested by the accused officer if given a disciplinary sanction or if facing disciplinary action by a convened board of inquiry. Cheyenne Wyoming Police Department Manual, Policy and Procedure, Section 12 (2-3-12) Internal Affairs Files. As noted by the Court in Goss, when a disciplinary action is taken based upon the reports and advice of others, errors are likely and a meaningful opportunity to respond is required. See Goss, 419 U.S. at 579-80, 95 S.Ct. at 739. Balancing these interests requires that risk-reducing procedures be afforded before a suspension. Little v. City of Jackson, 375 So.2d 1031, 1035 (Miss.1979), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 933, 100 S.Ct. 1325, 63 L.Ed.2d 768 (1980). If a full evidentiary hearing is not provided until after suspension, the following risk-reducing procedures must be afforded before suspension: written notice of the charges against her, knowledge of the basis of those charges either by explanation or by reviewing the file containing the report of the internal affairs investigation conducted and, in the case of the denial of the allegations, an effective opportunity to respond either in person or in writing to an impartial decision maker. Little, 375 So.2d at 1035; Miller v. City of Mission, Kan., 705 F.2d 368, 372 (10th Cir.1983). In this case, the disciplinary action does not appear to have resulted from a confrontation between Officer Mondt and the Police Chief for insubordination or a similar situation and he appears to qualify as an impartial decision maker.