Some of you may remember this, I got a Reckless Driving ticket about 6 weeks ago.(By the way my attoney had to continue it until 12/08) anyway, I was so mad about the ticket I filed a complaint with the State Police I/A department. They interviewed my about a month ago and I get this in the mail today.
Dear Mr. Vargo:
The Va Dept. of State Police has concluded its administravtive investigation resulting from your complaint dated 9/06/02 against Trooper ............
Public policy concerns dicate administrative investigative files be kept confidential; therefore, the Dept. does not release the results, as they are part of an employees's personnel file. The personnel files are protected by the Va. Freedom of Information Act.......................
Although the Dept does not release these results, please be assured that if a complaint is sustained against an employee, appropriate disciplinary action will be taken up to and including dismissal, in accordane with Dept. policy and state employee guidelines.
Again, without your valuable assistance and contribution, the Dept. would be unable to ensure that our employees strictly comply with our policies and procedures, which are designed to protect and serve the public.
[ 11. October 2002, 04:26 PM: Message edited by: vargod ]
Posted by J.R. Mayer (Member # 713) on :
This is definately the departments way of saying there is no way you will ever find out the results.
Your complaint is definately noted with them.. they may agree or disagree. The idea behind your complaint is to make sure they are aware of what is going on, but it definately will have no effect on your status in court. That is for a jury of your peers to decide should you plead "not guilty" to the charges from the trooper.
The department's obligation is to investigage any complaints.. which might be simply interviewing the officer, running the complain past the officer's supervisor. Then, just like any job.. the supervisor of the officer has to decide whether he deems it within his job roles and whether it was handled according to how they want their officers to react to situations... no different then if a bank teller is rude to you in the lobby of a bank.. whether they are terminated or not has no bearing on your complaint.
Again, the court systems decides whether you are guilty or not, not the department who issues the citation. Every ticket.. include parking tickets has the right to be plead as not guilty... and in this great country we are entitled to a court case to prove your guilt or innocense.
I remember your posting awhile back.. and agree you got the bad end of a "high horsed" cop.. but someone felt he would make a good officer, which is why he has the badge.. there are definately bad apples out there.. just like there are dishonest CEOs of companies... and presidents of countries who have affairs behind their wife's backs.. even the people who are supposed to be the most trustworthy, at times, are not.
