DUI on Duty and Not Arrested

[TedKennedy]

A Jacksonville police SWAT officer was fired after showing up drunk at a gun range. Now he's getting his job back.

Despite objections from JSO, officer Nicolas Gifford will return to his $71,000-a-year job after a city board ruled that his termination was unjust.

www.yahoo.com

Yeah, there may be double standard.

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

I dunno about a double standard in this case. The SO fired him. That's pretty serious. I think the supervisor that ordered him brought to the station screwed up.

Also, by taking him away and forcing him to undergo a compulsory breath test I believe they committed the equivalent of failing to "Mirandize" him. When officers are compelled to provide testimony or evidence that may incriminate them they are required to receive a Garrity warning.

If they'd performed a DUI investigation on scene and processed him, like they should've, it would've been a more fair and just outcome. On the other hand, most non-law enforcement people aren't fired for a DUI.

From only reading the one link it seems more like a huge fuster cluck instead of favoritism. Regardless, the outcome is wrong in my opinion. But rules still have to be followed in the legal world.

 

[trekrok]

Why should he be fired for such a tiny lapse in judgement? I know I certainly wouldn't expect to be fired if all I had done was got drunk, strapped on my gun belt and drove into work in the company car. Crazy and unreasonable standards there..

 

[rickm]

I know back when i was working if i had showed up for work drunk and caught i would have been fired on the spot with no chance of a hearing.

 

[sherrick13]

There is the fact that a misdemeanor requires it to happen in an officer's presence for the arrest to happen. There are a couple of exceptions for DUI (in OK), but it is the fact that none of them actually saw him behind the wheel. Could he have been arrested for public intox? Probably. I don't like he is getting his job back though.

BTW, I had an officer on light duty (injured duty and she wasn't carrying a gun) show up drunk one morning. I immediately had her taken home and suspended. She was ultimately fired and did NOT get her job back.

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

There is the fact that a misdemeanor requires it to happen in an officer's presence for the arrest to happen. There are a couple of exceptions for DUI (in OK), but it is the fact that none of them actually saw him behind the wheel.

Yeah...some of the officers did observe him driving:

Gifford’s intoxicated condition was initially discovered Oct. 13 by fellow officers who saw him “swerving back and forth” while driving his city-issued car to the Sheriff's Office firing range, some 30 miles from his home. Gifford admitted to his inebriated state when the officers confiscated his gun belt.

Most states have a law against being in possession of a firearm while intoxicated...in Colorado it was "Prohibited Use of a Weapon".

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

There is the fact that a misdemeanor requires it to happen in an officer's presence for the arrest to happen.

Really? How do officers make arrests for things like assault or harassment where a victim claims - after the fact - someone hit them (or whatever) and has a physical injury to substantiate their claim. Seems like getting a warrant every time you want to arrest someone for a minor crime would be a real PITA.

 

[sherrick13]

Really? How do officers make arrests for things like assault or harassment where a victim claims - after the fact - someone hit them (or whatever) and has a physical injury to substantiate their claim. Seems like getting a warrant every time you want to arrest someone for a minor crime would be a real PITA.

Never with a few exceptions. An officer can not make an arrest for a misdemeanor not committed in his presence. Exceptions are Domestic Violence with direct evidence, DUI after a vehicle collusion investigation and shoplifting where an employee can testify they witnessed it.

What you do is you write a report and a Probable Cause affidavit and present it to the City/District Attorney and get a warrant for that misdemeanor and then go get them.

 

[sherrick13]

Yeah...some of the officers did observe him driving:


Most states have a law against being in possession of a firearm while intoxicated...in Colorado it was "Prohibited Use of a Weapon".

Well, in that case he probably should have been arrested. Getting his job back in not good.

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

Oh, OK. In Colorado, as long as you had probable cause based on victim testimony, evidence, etc, you could make the arrest, even if you picked the suspect up at a different time or location. Sometimes you could even stretch it out a couple of days as long as you could show a continuous attempt to contact the actor (have an officer from the next shift try to locate/contact the person, etc). After that, though, it was forwarded for a warrant.