· POLICE DEPARTMENT CITY OF~og~~I~I\\LI~

October 13, 2011

Sergeant Michael BolandPeoria Police DepartmentPeoria, Illinois 61602

Re: Letter of Suspension, PS#11-19

Sergeant Michael Boland:

This is to inform you Lieutenant Scott Cook conducted an internal investigation on acomplaint filed by Pastor Richard Sommer and Pastor Samuel Duren regarding yourconduct on June 24, 2011. The New Jerusalem Church has held a ministry missionon Friday nights in the 1800 block of Griswold for the last. several years. They havemet with the Department to advise the officers that they conduct their mission from theparking lot of the Griswold Liquor store with the cooperation of the owners. Aninformation bulletin was placed out in January of 2010 reminding officers that theChurch would be continuing to conduct the mission and to encourage officers to offersupport to their efforts and to monitor their welfare.

The Pastors stated that they were conducting their usual mission in the GriswoldLiquor Store parking lot when they were approached by you on June 24th and told tovacate the premises. The Pastor's stated that they tried to reason with you and informyou that they had permission from Chief Settingsgaard to be at that locationconducting their mission. According to the Pastor's, you made a number of alarmingcomments such as "Look the Chief is not out here, he runs the Department and I runthe streets and you can't be in front of Griswold Liquors." The Pastors complied withyour demand that they leave the parking lot and re-Iocated down the street. ThePastors indicated that they were highly offended by your comments and felt they hadbeen treated with a lack of respect.

Your special report closely mirrors the statements of the Pastors. You admit to makingcomments about the Chef running the Department and you running the streets. Youstated that you made the Pastors move because the lot is posted no loitering andthere are frequent issuea on the lot with individuals loitering. You felt the individualswere in violation ofa city ordinance and state-law. You indicated that you felt that thePastors were challenging your authority and attempting to threaten you by mentioningtheir relationship with the Chief.

600 SW AdamsPeoria, Illinois 61602·1592309/673·4521

Sergeant Michael BolandOctober 13, 2011PS#11-19Page Two

It is reasonable to believe that you did not know about the ongoing relationshipbetween the Police Department and the New Jerusalem Church Ministry due to yourrecent transfer to 3rd shift. It is also reasonable that you would stop to investigatepeople in a parking lot of a business who have issues with loitering. However it isapparent that you handled the incident poorly. You were informed by the ministersthat there was a relationship with the Police Department and that they were conductinga ministry that was approved by the Chief of Police. You should have checked withthe District cars to determine the validity of the Pastor's statements before forcingthem to leave. You also did not go out on the air when you stopped to investigate thegroup. Had you went out on the air it is likely that a district car would have alerted youto the legitimacy of the group's presence. The Pastors you encountered are middleaged well spoken individuals who clearly would not appear to be up to nefariousactivity while conducting a ministry. You read into their explanations a challenge toyour authority and allowed your anger at the perceived insult to cloud your judgment tothe point where you made no effort to confirm their story at the time of the incident.You responded to the perceived challenge with an ultimatum that forced the Pastors tomove or face arrest. You made comments that the pastors perceived as insulting,disparaging and disrespectful about the Chief of Police. Captain Snow personally metwith a group from the New Jerusalem Church including those filing the complaint theweek following the incident. It was clear to her that they were highly offended and feltdisrespected as well as betrayed by the Police Department due to this incident.

You cite the letter of the law in justification for your actions in moving the Pastors butignore the, Spirit of the Law along with your responsibility as a police supervisor tomake an effort to confirm an individual's story. The words you chose duringconversation with the Pastors were offensive to them and derogatory to the Chief ofPolice.

You are receiving a two day suspension without pay for violation of General Order100.06 VI (D) 4. 4. Insubordination: Officers shall promptly obey any lawful order of asupervisor. Ridiculing the authority of a supervisor by displaying obvious disrespect isdeemed insubordination. .

Any similar violations ira the future may result in further disciplinary action, includingtermination. This Jetter shall remain in your personnel file.

During your suspension you shall not exercise any police powers or take any policeaction. Upon receipt of this notice you are to surrender immediately your departmentissued badges and identification cards, for the duration of the suspension. Yourdivision commander will inform you of the dates of your suspension.

· Sergeant Michael BolandOctober 13, 2011PS#11-19Page Three

Pursuant to Section 16.4 of the collective bargaining agreement currently in forcebetween the City of Peoria and the Peoria Police Benevolent Association, review ofany disciplinary action by the police chief or his designee shall be grievable, providingthe f evance is filed ithin fifteen days after the employee is notified of the discipline.

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Steven M. SettingsgaardPolice Chief

SMS:SMR/caw

c Fire & Police CommissionDirector of Human ResourcesLabor Relations ManagerCaptain Lisa M. SnowLieutenant D. TheobaldPPBA SecretaryPersonnel FileProfessional Standards File

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~ployee Date

/0 --1&-- IfDateWitness ,

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"';'~-' __CITY OF

PEORIADate: 10/24/12

PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT

Sergeant Michael BolandPeoria Police DepartmentPeoria, Illinois 61602

~~Re: Letter of Reprimand - Missed Court Date -=*- \d.-'1:l.

Sergeant Boland:

On Monday, the 22nd of October, 2012, I received notification from Court Sergeant RobinTurner that you had failed to appear at a scheduled court date on Thursday, the is" of Octoberat 1400 hours. This was a must-appear court date concerning a Class 4 Felony drug case on aJoseph Sieg, case #12-4127.

There were several more attempts made to contact you at home (1435, 1450, 1520 and 1600hours). All of these attempts were unsuccessful and a message was left each time. ASA Beardwas left with no choice but to dismiss the case due to the unavailability of your testimony.Obviously, having to dismiss a criminal case due to the absence of a critical witness, who hasbeen properly notified, is unacceptable.

Sergeant Turner was notified at 1420 hours that ASA Jeremy Beard had inquired as to whether-or-not you had arrived yet and that you were needed in Room 222. Sergeant Turner thenattempted to call you at your listed number" - arid, when he did not get ananswer, he left a message. ASA Beard was notified and he said that he would try to have theCourt wait as long as he could before your testimony was needed.

On Tuesday morning, the 23rd of October, I talked with you in reference to this incident. At thistime you told me that you had overslept and did not hear the phone during any of the attemptsto reach you. I then asked you to complete a Special Report on the incident which you did andwas received by me on the morning of the 24th. In this report you again stated that you hadoverslept and that you did not wake up until about 1620 hours. You also stated that you hadbeen aware of the mandatory court appearance and had even read a copy of the arrest reportthe night before.

Based upon the facts, and from conversation with you, it is my decision to issue you this Letterof Reprimand. While I do not believe that this was a deliberate action on your part, and do notfeel that it will be repeated, a Letter of Reprimand is the minimum amount of discipline calledfor in an instance like this in General Order 400.54, Court.

600 S. W. Adams StreetPeoria,IL61602-1592Phone 309.494.8300

Specifically, this General Order states that "Any employee failing to appear in Court asscheduled for the first time within any consecutive twelve months, through carelessness ornegligence, shall receive a written reprimand, copied to the personnel file. If the first occasion isthrough willfulness, the employee may be suspended for up to one day without pay. //

Pursuant to Section 16.4 of the collective bargaining agreement currently in force between theCity of Peoria and the Peoria police Benevolent Association, review of any disciplinary action bythe Police Chief or his designee shall be grievable, providing the grievance is filed within fifteendays after the employee is notified of the discipline.

This Letter of Reprimand will stay in your file for two years. Any further violations of this typemay result in further disciplinary action being taken.

cf{~It:2r.Lieutenant Da:~Oger

DLRJdrc Human Resources Director

Captain Jerry MitchellLieutenant David RogerProfessional Standards LieutenantPPBA SecretaryPersonnel File

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