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Captain Snipes Personnel Board Hearing Personnel Board -- Captain Snipes' Termination Excessive, Recommends A Less Severe Disciplinary Action County Manager Rejects Personnel Board's Recommendation Did County Violate Captain Snipes' Rights As A Law Enforcement Officer Under Investigation? |
November 11, 2013 |
Billy Joel - We Didn't Start The Fire
Video Can Be Stopped By Clicking Pause Button
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On November 5, 2013 On November 5, 2013 - VolusiaExposed.Com attended the personnel board of former beach patrol Captain Michael Snipes. As we normally do, we video taped the entire proceeding, and these videos are available within this article - see below. During this personnel board hearing, one board member had to recuse himself, and the county provided the other board members with their own private attorney. VolusiaExposed has incorporated several documents attached to this particular hearing within the below scroll boxes. |
Captain Snipes' Termination  |
The County Personnel Board found that Captain Snipes was in violation of several county policies, but they (board) ruled in a 3-2 vote, that the county's termination of Captain Snipes was to severe. The Board recommended that the County Manager reconsider Captain Snipes' termination.
County Manager Dinneen declined the Personnel Board's recommendation of less severe disciplinary action, and stood firm on his termination decision.
County Manager Dinneen declined the Personnel Board's recommendation of less severe disciplinary action, and stood firm on his termination decision.
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Were Captain Snipes Rights Violated By Volusia County Officials?
Did Captain Snipes make a stupid decision in posting and / or involving himself in the posting of those text messages? We (VolusiaExposed) believe he did ! However, Mr. Snipes did not get terminated based on whether he made a stupid decision, rather he was terminating on an investigative finding that he violated several county policies. Florida Statutes (112.531 to 112.535) ,commonly referred to as the Florida Officer's Bill Of Rights, mandates how an internal investigation against a law enforcement or correctional officer must be conducted. Failure to follow these mandates, will almost surely call into question the investigative findings. |
Captain Snipes' Disciplinary Action |
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The Florida Officer's Bill Of Rights mandate that the subject officer be advised "of the names of all complainants..and that..all identifiable witnesses shall be interviewed whenever possible, prior to the beginning of the investigative interview of the accused officer."
F.S. 112.532(1) (d) The law enforcement officer or correctional officer under investigation must be informed of the nature of the investigation before any interrogation begins, and he or she must be informed of the names of all complainants. All identifiable witnesses shall be interviewed, whenever possible, prior to the beginning of the investigative interview of the accused officer. The complaint, all witness statements, including all other existing subject officer statements, and all other existing evidence, including, but not limited to, incident reports, GPS locator information, and audio or video recordings relating to the incident under investigation, must be provided to each officer who is the subject of the complaint before the beginning of any investigative interview of that officer. An officer, after being informed of the right to review witness statements, may voluntarily waive the provisions of this paragraph and provide a voluntary statement at any time Only days before Snipes' personnel board hearing, and long after his investigative interview, did Assistant County Attorney Nancye Jones advise him in a November 1, 2013 letter, that former Beach Patrol Officer Scott Dowling was the initial complainant. (see scroll box to right of page) Regardless of whether Attorney Jones intended to call Mr. Dowling as a witness or not, the county had a duty to identify Mr. Dowling to Captain Snipes as the initial complainant. |
Identifying Source Of The Complaint |
The End Does Not Justify The Means - The Law Must Be Followed.
that, to the best of my personal knowledge, information, and belief,
I have not knowingly or willfully deprived, or allowed another to deprive,
the subject of the investigation of any of the rights contained in ss. 112.532 and 112.533, Florida Statutes.”
The above highlighted statement comes directly out of F.S. 112.533 - this statement MUST be written at the end of each internal investigative report, with the investigating officer's signature.
In regards to the Captain Snipes' investigation, Beach Captain David Vanis was the person that county officials selected to investigate the allegations lodged against Snipes.
Listen to Captain Vanis testify at the personnel board hearing, it is clear that he met with Dowling, in order to secure the text messages. That meeting and his (Vanis) conversation with Director Swanson should have left no wriggle room of the identity of the initial complainant.
The evidence and testimony appears to clearly support that the county, with intent, withheld the identity of the initial complainant, by referring to Mr. Dowling as an "anonymous" complainant, in apparent violation of Florida Statutes.
In our opinion, this Snipes investigation is just the newest of many examples of Volusia County officials failing to honor the mandates of the Florida Officer's Bill of Rights. Maybe county officials are under the false belief that the mandates of Officer's Bill of Rights are as hollow and unenforceable as Florida Model Jail Standards.
The Failures Of Florida Model Jail Standards
VolusiaExposed.Com has several articles that exposes the failure of Volusia County officials to honor the mandates of the Florida Officer's Bill Of Rights. We invite you to review the pages of VolusiaExposed to enlighten yourself on how often these violations occur.
One thing is for sure, - justice can NOT be obtained by breaking or ignoring the law. Justice can only be obtained by following the law.
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The Personnel Board & Union Contracts However, some county law enforcement agencies are unionized, and the mandates of the county charter can be modified via these union contracts. Since it is becoming obvious that county officials have little to no intentions of obeying the Florida Officer's Bill Of Rights, then maybe it is time for these unions to seek outside binding arbitration as a replacement to the county personnel board. Other approach, and maybe the middle ground, would be to include in union contracts, that the decision of the current personnel board would be binding, and not the mere recommendation it is today. 
Captain Snipes' Personnel Board Hearing Videos
November 5, 2013
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Highlighted Testimony Play the below videos to watch the described video snippet Personnel Board Is Supplied It's Very Own Attorney Board Member Dwight Lewis Excuses Himself From Participating In the Hearing Lewis Has Known The Snipes Family For Many Years Will County Manager Testify? Will Assistant County Attorney Jones Testify? Were There Violations Of The Officer Bill Of Rights? Attorney Jones Advises The Board That Violations Of The Officer's Bill Of Rights Are Not Within Their Authority. Is That What Jones Told A Circuit Court Judge In January 2012 - see below video? In January 2012 County Attorney Nancye Jones Advises Judge Rouse That The Personnel Board Will Consider Possible Violations Of The Florida Officer's Bill Of Rights. The Captain Rich Gardner Hearing If you advise the County Personnel Board that possible violations of the Florida Officer Bill Of Rights should be handled within the Circuit Court - and then you advise a Circuit Court Judge that these possible violations can be heard within the County Personnel Board - which is the proper venue for these types of violations? |
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