Tuesday, July 26, 2005

BENTON HARBOR FORMER CHIEF SAM HARRIS WAS FOUND AT FAULT

BENTON HARBOR FORMER CHIEF OF POLICE SAM HARRIS WAS FOUND AT FAULT FOR DENYING FORMER BENTON HARBOR COP A HEARING.
COP GETS JOB BACK A YEAR AFTER BEING FIRED.
An arbitrator has ruled that Dennie Brown, fired from the Benton Harbor Police Department last summer, should and will have his job back.
Interim police chief Al Mingo said he also has received the arbitrator`s ruling, but declined to comment Monday, referring reporters to the city attorney. Charlette Pugh Tall said only that the city can appeal the ruling.
City manager Dwight Pete Mitchell and city commissioners, this very sad group, said they had not seen the document and could not comment on the ruling they have not seen. Brown said in a ruling he received July 18 that the arbitrator decided the city had no reason to fire him. Sam Harris and Pete Mitchell would not grant him a hearing before he was fired.
Brown was a police officer in Benton Harbor for 10 years before being fired last July. He already had sued the city, alleging he was punished at work for reporting all the police brutality, violations, crime, and wrongdoing in the police department.
Brown lost that case when Berrien County trial court chief judge Paul Maloney ruled "no cause for action" in the suit against the city, then police chief Sam Harris, and former city manager Joel Patterson. That ruling had NO substance.
Brown repeatedly asked the city commissioners to hear him in closed session, but commissioners said they could not because he was no longer a city employee. Now, Brown will get his closed session with THE commissioners next week. He said he doesn't want to start work until Sept. 1 because of family issues he is dealing with, but wanted to talk about the city attorney and former police chief Sam Harris who both have committed criminal acts.
Mitchell cautioned Brown that if and when he goes back to work the police chief will be his boss and he should follow proper chain of command. When he was still a police officer, Brown was disciplined for reporting crimes inside the police department and Berrien County court house. This one is for the good guys.