California court rules on whether his rights were violated if investigation wasn't completed within one-year period

The issue in a recent California case was whether the plaintiff’s rights under the Public Safety Officer’s Bill of Rights (POBRA) were violated if the investigation into his alleged improper conduct was supposedly not completed within the one-year limitations period.

An administrative hearing found that a captain of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office – the plaintiff in the case of Shouse v. County of Riverside et al. – had improper sexual relationships with his subordinates, misappropriated the county’s equipment and electronic mail for his personal use, violated a direct order banning him from contacting anyone with whom he had a personal relationship while the investigation was ongoing, and engaged in unbecoming conduct discrediting the sheriff’s department.

The plaintiff was terminated from his employment. He filed a petition seeking a review of his dismissal, which the trial court denied. The plaintiff appealed.

The California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District, Second Division affirmed the trial court’s decision.

The appellate court noted that the relevant department directive did not prohibit relationships between the department’s employees. Thus, the relationship would need to violate a personnel policy to warrant discipline.

The department’s chief and its undersheriff testified that the fact that the plaintiff had sexual relationships was not...

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