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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 |
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 |
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 |