By Jim Cline and Kim Lowe
In City of Tallahassee, Arbitrator Baroni upheld a police officer’s policy violation for failure to use de-escalation techniques with a suspect, however he reduced the discipline from an 8-hour suspension to a written reprimand. While several factors contributed to Baroni’s decision to reduce the discipline, the main one was that Tallahassee Police Chief Revell acknowledged he deliberated departed from the usual, more moderate discipline, to “set the tone for his expectations in the department.” Baroni held choice resulted in too severe a punishment.
Officer A worked for the City of Tallahassee for more than 20 years, including as a training officer and as acting chief supervisor. He had over 15 years of exemplary performance evaluations. In October 2020, he responded to a call at a Circle K convenience store where he encountered a suspect who was alleged to have attacked an employee when he was denied bathroom access. Once outside and waiting for the owner of the store to arrive, the suspect became belligerent, attempting repeatedly to leave his car against Officer A’s orders. A used some verbal de-escalation techniques but ultimately arrested the suspect for
The City of Tallahassee argued it had just cause for Officer A’s 8-hour suspension, since he failed to follow the de-escalation policy on which all officers had been trained. It considered 8-hours a proportionate penalty for the Officer’s misconduct.
Arbitrator Baroni found that while Officer A did fail to use de-escalation techniques he was trained on, an 8-hour suspension was too severe a penalty for that error. One reason underlying Baroni’s decision was that video of the Circle K incident was entered into the record and he held that,
“Video evidence certainly shows that ‘prevailing circumstances’ from the scene, introduced by [the suspect]’s behavior, provoked grievant in losing his temper and failing in his attempt to de-escalate.”
However, the primary reason for reducing the penalty to a written warning was that Arbitrator Baroni found that the penalty was out of proportion with similar discipline in the past. Referring to Chief Revell, who issued the discipline, Arbitrator Baroni noted
“His discipline decision was a deliberate departure from the consistent application of penalties rule.”
The decision of Arbitrator Baroni highlights the importance of the general rule that punishments should be applied to employees consistently. While the City of Tallahassee had not disciplined anyone under the de-escalation policy, Arbitrator Baroni found that Officer A’s misconduct was most akin to a first offense “rudeness” violation, which would typically only yield a written warning. Therefore, Baroni thought it was appropriate to reduce the penalty to be consistent with other discipline in the department.
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