On or around December 14, 2010, Plaintiff spoke with Roswell Police Commander Bill Brown regarding these conversations. Brammer-Hoelter, 492 F.3d at 1203. The McEvoy Court reasoned that, if a court examines the content and context of the employee's statement, and finds that "the employee's personal interest qua employee predominates over any interest he might have as a member of the general public," then the speech is not on a matter of public concern. (quotation omitted). PREVIOUS | Roswell Police Chief resigns amid 11Alive Investigation Two Roswell officers were fired after 11Alive Investigators uncovered body camera video showing the officers using a 'coin flip' app when deciding to arrest a driver for speeding. See McEvoy, 882 F.2d at 467. (Doc. He specialized in investigating violent crimes, property theft, drug enforcement and technology. The fact that it was in the form of a complaint submitted to the Human Resources Department also implies that Plaintiff was requesting a formal inquiry be made into Defendant Scifres' behavior. (Doc. . 65 at 3). Id. The Minnesota police chief who oversaw an officer who fatally shot a Black man during a traffic stop on Sunday has resigned. Both the police chief and the officer who killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright resigned Tuesday, as protesters gathered for a third night in this Minneapolis suburb. She argues that the Court should consider all of her speech together for the reasons that she "brought letters to the Mayor and City Manager" and talked to other officers and citizens. 60). Id. (Doc. In January, 2011, Plaintiff was arrested and charged with battery against a household member, and placed on administrative leave with the Roswell Police Department. 1996). (Doc. Id. See generally Connick, 461 U.S. at 163. (Doc. (Doc. Panis v. Mission Hills Bank, N.A., 60 F.3d 1486, 1490 (10th Cir.1995). Please consider becoming a member of WABE today. The police chief's resignation is effective Tuesday. 52-1 at 37:12-22). at 2. See Panis, 60 F.3d at 1490. (Doc. CIV-13-00512 CEG/SMV (D.N.M. Rather, her interest was to discuss her opinions regarding low employee morale, low retention rates, officer shift schedules, and her preference for her next supervisor. Defendants contend that the speech was personal in nature because the purpose of the letter was to air a personal dispute or grievance. Wilson v. City of Littleton, Colo., 732 F.2d 765, 768 (10th Cir. 52-1 at 18:17-25; Doc. at 15. A movant who does not bear the burden of persuasion at trial, such as Defendants, need not negate the nonmovant's claim. Plaintiff was ultimately reinstated in her previous position with the Police Department in January, 2012, and then immediately placed on administrative leave with pay. Plaintiff urges the Court to consider her pattern of speech as a unitary whole in undertaking the Garcetti/Pickering analysis. 52 at 14). R. Evid. She testified at her deposition that she warned fellow officers and members of the community that if Defendant Scifres were to be selected for the Police Chief job that: "Officers would quit. Roswell, GA. 196. 2014) (holding that plaintiff's speech was of public concern, because it was made to the media, and statements protected under the First Amendment are protected in part by fact of being made to the media). The Tenth Circuit found that, because the Wulf plaintiff's speech was directed to a public official seeking a formal investigation of a police chief's alleged misconduct, a finding of public concern was strongly supported by the evidence. 52 at 3; Doc. June 22: Toronto Police chief Mark Saunders issues an official statement of regrets for the Operation Soap raids of 1981. However, the First Amendment limits the public employer's ability "to leverage the employment relationship to restrict, incidentally or intentionally, the liberties employees enjoy in their capacities as private citizens." Village Council accepted the resignation of part-time officer Ralph Tice last week. (Doc. Complaint to the Human Resources Department: January 28, 2011. She believed that if Defendant Scifres were to be hired as Chief of Police, more officers would quit and the community would suffer. No. The city of Roswell is going to pay an outside consultant to take a closer look at its police department following multiple controversies over officers actions. (Doc. Indeed, it is undisputed that Defendant Fry, and not the electorate, was charged with choosing the next Roswell Chief of Police. Roswell Police Cheif Philip Smith sent out an article Monday demonstrating his frustrations with the justice system. (Doc. The nonmovant must go beyond the allegations and denials of his pleadings and provide admissible evidence, which the Court views in the light most favorable to her. All rights reserved. 52 at 14). In the proposal to Roswell, it says it will conduct data-driven analysis, identify and recommend appropriate staffing levels, review policies and procedures, examine the departments organizational structure and culture, recommend a management framework to ensure accountability, conduct interviews, review internal affairs and conduct other analysis of the department. May 13, 2020 The second-in-command at the Roswell Police Department has resigned amid an internal investigation into allegations she assaulted and belittled a police recruit. She disclosed that she had been admonished by Commander Brown for "talking negatively about Chief Deputy Jody Scifres for Chief," and was instructed to cease talking about the Police Chief position while at work. Commander Brown advised Plaintiff not to discuss the Police Chief position or the Police Chief candidates while on duty, as it had become a distraction at work. BOISE, Idaho Boise Police Department Chief Ryan Lee resigned from his position on Friday, at the request of Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, effective Oct. 14. 57 at 4; Doc. Steven Sund, chief of the US Capitol police, announced his resignation following criticism from congressional leaders. The Court views all of the evidence in the record in the light most favorable to Plaintiff. She listed the date of the alleged offending incident as December 14, 2010. Plaintiff acknowledges that all of her speech occurred on separate occasions over many months. A citizen's ability to make her own "assessment of a candidate's qualifications for public office is integral to the operation of the system of government" which is protected by the First Amendment. (Doc. (Doc. 52 at 6; Doc. The investigation resulted in a sustained finding of domestic violence in violation of the Department's policy. Full title:JEANNIE MADSEN, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF ROSWELL, a municipal corporation, Court:UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEW MEXICO. In this case, Plaintiff alleges that all of her statements concerning Defendant Scifres are protected because they question his character, competence, and fitness for duty. (Doc. A Roswell police officer who was seen on body camera video leaving a 13-year-old boy in a cold patrol car and taunting him in January has been demoted after an internal investigation, police. In considering the speaker's motivation in making the statements, the Court analyzes whether the speech was calculated to disclose misconduct, wrongdoing, inefficiency, or other malfeasance on the part of government officials in the conduct of their official duties, Lancaster, 149 F.3d at 1234, or merely dealt with personal disputes unrelated to the public's interest. On Jan. 2, body camera footage showed officers leaving a 13-year-old boy in a squad car on a cold night and taunting him. She further explained that, since she voiced her support for Dane Kyser for Police Chief to Mayor Jurney and Defendant Fry, she was being singled out and harassed at work, and that the work environment was hostile. (Doc. 57 at 13). At the time of their meeting, Commander Brown was one of Plaintiff's supervisors in the Department. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has cautioned that "[i]t is not a right to transform everyday employment disputes into matters for constitutional litigation in the federal courts." 52 at 3; Doc. Three officers were fired, and the police chief resigned amid our investigations. Id. (Doc. 65 at 4). She reasons that a police officer's opinion as to who would be the best Chief of Police is important to the public, because the public has a "dire need to know who is leading their police department." Plaintiff complained that McFadden had an outburst during the briefing over his perception that the other officers believed he was promoted because of his friendship with Defendant Scifres. 58-3 at 36:12-22). 1995)) (internal quotations and alterations omitted). For the first time in more than 20 years, the Roswell Police Department is fully staffed. A White police officer who fatally shot a Black man during a traffic stop in Minnesota resigned Tuesday, along with the city's police chief, officials said. If the Court finds that Plaintiff's speech was not on a matter of public concern, then the Court must hold that the speech is unprotected, and end its inquiry pursuant to Garcetti/Pickering. at 974. P. 56(a). Anciennes mines de La Mure (Le Villaret-Susville, Prunires, Saint-Arey) "South of Grenoble on the N85. Roswell hired 36 officers in 2022; of those, 23 had experience at other agencies. 57 at 2; Doc. Again, the Court compares Plaintiff's speech in this instance with the speech that was at issue in McEvoy and Wulf. 52 at 5; Doc. 31). One of those now-former officers, Courtney Brown, blamed her termination on the international . After carefully considering the submissions of the parties, the record, and the relevant law, the Court will grant Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment. Instead, she claims that she was often approached by others who initiated these conversations. While Plaintiff's speech may be related to the Police Department's efficient performance, her comments on the matter "did not sufficiently inform the issue as to be helpful to the public in evaluating the conduct of government." The Court must conduct a five-step inquiry in considering a plaintiff's freedom-of-speech retaliation claim, known as the "Garcetti/Pickering" analysis. However, if the speech is a matter of public concern, the Court should proceed to step three and decide whether the employee's interest in commenting on the issue outweighs those of the state as the employer. Police Chief Tim Gannon and Officer Kim Potter both resigned from their positions in the Minnesota city of Brooklyn Center after two consecutive nights of rioting and looting in response to the . Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410, 418 (2006). 2002). 2000). 52-1 at 37:2-7). It is true that political expression has long been afforded the broadest protection by the First Amendment. (Doc. Funding for the audit will come from the police departments budget for the 2019 fiscal year. The evidence in the record strongly suggests that Plaintiff's personal interest as an employee of the Roswell Police Department predominated her interest as a member of the general public. 52 at 4; Doc. Its a very rare instance for a police department to be fully staffed, Chief James Conroy, whos been on the job in Roswell for four years, told Channel 2s Bryan Mims. at 2, 3. Roswell Police did show up quickly, but they are running a scam through American Towing, Inc. My daughters car was parked in a parking lot after the accident. 1998) (quoting Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 147-48 (1983)) (internal quotation omitted). Chief Investigator Brendan Keefe first revealed that a driver was arrested after two officers flipped a coin to decide whether or not she would go to jail. In Connick, the plaintiff's speech consisted of her opposition to her transfer to another division of her public agency, employee morale, and her lack of confidence in supervisors. The Court cannot find that these facts fit within the category of political speech that the U.S. Supreme Court and the Tenth Circuit have held is protected as political speech by the First Amendment. She contends that she told other officers that the Department needed to end the "good ole boy" system. 52 at 12; Doc. The Court Will Consider Each Instance of Speech Separately. She went off-duty in February. 52 at 3; Doc. Here, Plaintiff's speech took the form of a private letter addressed to only two public officials. Id. After considering the content, form, and context of the speech in Plaintiff's January 5, 2011 complaint, as well as Plaintiff's stated motive for the speech, Plaintiff's speech was not on a matter of public concern. FED. Therefore, the Court cannot find that her motivation in engaging in these conversations with other officers andcity employees was to disclose any official misconduct, malfeasance, or breach of the public trust. R. Civ. 65 at 3). She testified that she did not initiate conversations with the other officers, and that she was always approached by others to discuss the Police Chief vacancy. In her letter to Mayor Jurney and Defendant Fry, Plaintiff wrote: "I would like to show my support for Dane Kyser for Chief of Police of the Roswell Police Department. 57 at 2). Schrier, 427 F.3d at 1263 (quoting Moore v. City of Wynnewood, 57 F.3d 924, 932 (10th Cir. She testified that her motive for writing the letter was only to express her support for her preferred candidate for Police Chief. The Court finds that, like the grievances involved in Hom, the speech in this case involved only matters of internal departmental affairs and workplace frustration, and therefore were only on matters of personal interest. She merely stated her preference for who she believed that her next boss should be, to the individual charged with filling that position. Having considered the content, context, and form of Plaintiff's speech, as well as her stated motives, the Court does not find that Plaintiff's speech was on a matter of public concern. (Doc. R. CIV. 1989). (quotation omitted). 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