Police association reprimands Darien Village Board President
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The issue: Darien Police Chief Steve DeVoy has been suspended with pay since Dec. 1. The Village Board on March 7 voted 5-2 to fire him, although a hearing is pending to make the decision official.
What's happened so far: On Dec. 1, a village employee discovered two surveillance cameras in the police department. The next day, the board voted unanimously to suspend DeVoy. During an investigation into the cameras, attorneys turned up thousands of documents that some say suggest DeVoy was spending many hours on the job violating the village's employee handbook. Sgt. Mike Maltese has been acting chief of the department.
What's new: The board's agenda this week indicated the board would talk about hiring an investigator to look into allegations against Maltese. Some board members argued the matter should be discussed in closed session. The Wisconsin Professional Police Association sent a letter to the board reprimanding them for talking to the media about the allegations against Maltese.
What's next: A disciplinary hearing for DeVoy will start July 20 at the Darien Senior Center, 47 Park St., Darien. The board has not set further action regarding Maltese.
DARIEN — The Wisconsin Professional Police Association this week sent a letter of reprimand to Darien Village Board President Evelyn Etten.
The letter dated Thursday strongly criticized the way the board has handled Darien Police Department issues.
The most recent issue out of the embattled department is a list of accusations written by board member Craig McCue against Sgt. Mike Maltese.
Maltese has been the acting chief of the department since December, when Chief Steve DeVoy was suspended with pay.
The board voted to fire DeVoy in March. A hearing is pending to make the vote official.
The WPPA's letter specifically sites a June 22 story in the Delavan Enterprise. The letter rips McCue for collaborating with DeVoy to make the accusations and for making public those accusations, which include insubordination, failure to provide leadership, neglect of duty and unsatisfactory performance.
"The idea that a terminated employee is ‘collaborating' with an elected official to outline ‘charges' against an officer is both stunning and appalling," WPPA attorney Roger Palek wrote.
DeVoy told the Gazette he did not collaborate with McCue. He did say he talked to him about the matter.
In addition, the letter criticizes two items on the board's agenda for a special meeting held Thursday night.
According to the agenda, the board planned to talk about a procedure for handling complaints against the department and about hiring someone to investigate the complaints against Maltese.
Such a discussion would have violated "constitutional and contractual due process considerations, the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights, the collective bargaining agreement officer(s) have with the village and potentially the Open Meetings act," the letter states.
The board did not take action on either item, Administrator Marc Dennison told the Gazette after the meeting.
"They took that off the agenda right off the bat," Dennison said about hiring an investigator. "You can't discuss personnel stuff outside of personnel meetings."
When asked why the item was on the agenda if it couldn't be discussed, Dennison said he put the item on the agenda because Etten and board member Debi Olmstead told him to.
The board has not yet set either item on a future agenda, Dennison said.
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