Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.metro From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Appeals court OKs squelch of officer's divisive comments Date: Thu, 26 Nov 92 15:00:28 EST Message-ID: Lines: 65 \SE B;METROPOLITAN \HD Appeals court OKs squelch of officer's divisive comments \BY Todd Spangler \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES \DT ANNAPOLIS ANNAPOLIS - Talk that could spread dissension in the Prince George's County police ranks is not protected by free speech rights and a sergeant who made such remarks can be disciplined, a Maryland appeals court ruled yesterday. The ruling by the Court of Special Appeals overturns a circuit court decision and upholds a reprimand and transfer of county police Sgt. Russell Younkers. The ruling stems from two incidents: one in which Sgt. Younkers complained when a subordinate was investigated for speeding and another in which he told an officer under investigation for a shooting to get an attorney before talking to anyone. "It is certainly a legitimate interest of the police department to squelch an 'us against them' mentality when both the 'us' and the 'them' are members of the same police force," the appeals court wrote in its opinion. A hearing board found Sgt. Younkers guilty in September 1989 of violating the county code and police regulations in an investigation into charges that one of his subordinates was speeding in a cruiser on the Beltway. According to court documents, Sgt. Younkers complained to a lieutenant - in the presence of the subordinate - that "if this had been a captain or a major . . . they would have thrown this thing in the trash." In the second incident before the board, Sgt. Younkers was supervising a crime scene after a shooting by another one of his subordinates. The officer had been involved in a previous shooting and told Sgt. Younkers she wanted to contact an attorney before talking to anyone. Sgt. Younkers used a department radio to contact the police union's attorney on the officer's behalf, court documents said, and then had someone else tell the officer not to talk to anyone. A Prince George's County judge threw out the hearing board's ruling, which had prompted his reassignment to another station, saying the sergeant's free-speech rights had been violated. The police department took the case to the Court of Special Appeals. The judges on the intermediate appeals court found that Sgt. Younkers' statements were unprotected because they fostered dissension within the department. They said the first comment, made in front of the subordinate being investigated, could "undermine" the working relationship needed between front-line officers and their supervisors. They held that the second comment "may have conveyed the impression that he was protecting the officer involved in the shooting from the inquiring eyes of departmental investigators." This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM