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Show Chief's Arresting Powers Suspended by Council Howard Gilmore, Panguitch City Police Chief was suspended from arresting authority by the Panguitch City Council Tuesday evening at its regular city council meeting. Heated discussion preceded the decision which came after the item had ,been penciled in on the evening's -previously typewritten agenda. The action came Tuesday night after city council members learned that Gilmore had not been authorized to act as a peace officer in Utah since June 1, thus having no legal powers of arrest since that date. Gilmore was hired by the Panguitch City Police Department on December 1, 1979, as verified by his application. He had been certified in California prior to coming to Utah and under Utah law had 18 months after hiring in which to recertify in Utah. Law enforcement officers who have previously been certified in other states may elect to take a waiver examination in lieu of attending the Police Officers Standard of Training (POST) 10-week rigorous training session. The thrust of POST in the past few years has been to strictly enforce its regulations in order to standardize and upgrade the quality of law enforcement in Utah. On May 4, 1981, Gilmore traveled to Salt Lake City where he took the POST waiver exam and failed to pass. He continued to function in his position as police chief of Panguitch. One secretary at POST early Friday denied that Gilmore had ever taken the waiver test, but when POST was contacted again a few minutes later, Secretary Supervisor Holly Eells confirmed that Gilmore had taken the test on May 4 and that he was scheduled to retake the test August 10. POST Policy and Procedures for Basic Training Waiver Applicants outlines as a condition: "Applicants who failed the exam the first time may take the exam again within a 90 day period. Applicants will have only two opportunities to pass the exam." The August 10 date for Giltnore's second exam would have been beyond the 90 day period as set by POST regulations. When asked, Eells disclosed that Gilmore had written his orignial date of hire by Panguitch City as December 1, 1980 (rather than December 1, 1979) on his waiver test application. At the time he took the test in May he (Continued on Page 2) Police Chief Suspended from Arresting Authority ( Continued from Paget) had less than a month remaining before the Utah 18 month limitation expired. The date given by Gilmore on his test application would indicate to POST that he had 13 months remaining. Panguitch City Manager Bruce Fullmer remarked that POST Director Joe Borich had told him that the "POST staff was convinced that it (Gilmore's listing of a false date) was an over sight." Fullmer said he agreed with Borioch. POST secretary Eells further stated that the POST Council had not met to grant an exception to Gilmore to take the test after the 18 month period had passed. On Monday, POST training supervisor and test administrator Clyde Palmer confirmed that Gilmore was scheduled to take the exam again and that exceptions such as were being made for Gilmore had been numerous. He said that Gilmore would retest only in the portions of the test in which he had previously shown deficiencies and that he (Palmer) would select the parts to be retaken. He noted that Gilmore had come very close to passing the exam the first time around. Gilmore was to have received tutoring from Palmer. Fullmer stated to the city council that Gilmore had left Tuesday to receive tutoring preparatory to taking the test Wednesday August 5. Although the date had been moved forward from the August 10 scheduling, it still did not fall wihtin the 90 day restriction. , Waiver exams are administered quarterly. Gilmore had taken his first test on May 4 and the next quarterly test was administered Monday August 3, the day before Gilmore went to POST to prepare for his test. There was no explanation why Gilmore was not scheduled to take his test with the other waiver applicants on Monday. Fullmer acknowledged to the council that he had known about Gilmore's. expired 18 months and that he had been "frankly concerned." He said that Gilmore had given him repeated assurances that he had a "working relationship" with POST concerning recertification. Fullmer said that he had sent Gilmore to POST on Tuesday with the understanding that Gilmore would- return with written verification from ,POST that everything was in order. Fullmer told, the council that when Gilmore had arrived at POST on Tuesday, members of the POST staff had told him that they were not "comfortable" with administering the exam to him and advised him to return August 13 to participate in a review before the POST Council. Fullmer pointed out to the city council that if Gilmore receives a favorable decision from the POST Council, he will be allowed to retake the exam and to certify all In the same day. Fullmer requested permission from the city council to accompany Gilmore to the POST Council review. Panguitch City councilmen were asked if the city had incurred any liability as a result of Gilmore's functioning as police chief for the past two months without legal powers of arrest, and whether any arrests he'd made during that period could be challenged. Mayor Wallace Lee and council members appeared not to be concerned about Gilmore's actions in behalf of Pangutich City since June 1. They expressed their support for both Gilmore and Fullmer, stating that they had "faith" in the two men. Mayor Lee said that "from what I have heard, they have done all that they should have done." They emphasized that the action concerning Gilmore was done out of necessity and reflected In no way upon his actions. When asked if they were concerned about the past two months of Gilmore's service without peace officer powers, one board member opined, "You can't cry over split milk." Their actions, however, In suspending Gilmore from arresting power, indicated their concern for the future. They said he would serve in an administrative capacity only until the matter is either cleared up on August 13, or unitl such time as he is recertified. Interpretations of POST Policy and , Procedures by Assistant Attorney General Robert Parrish as late as March of this year indicate some apparent inconsistencies in the operation of the law enforcement training ability which the state's to law enforcement official's office was attempting to clarify and rectify. The Parrish interpretation, in March was made in response to a letter of inquiry on several significant points submitted by Commissioner Larry ' Lunnen of the Department of Public Safety to which POST directly answers. In part Parrish states that, "the primary responsibility for Initiating the training and certification process must rest with the individual appointee and his parent law agency in order to comply with the 18 month requirement. This requirement has been the law In Utah since 1967 and there Is, thus no excuse for failure to discover and comply with the requirement." In response to the question whether POST could certify an officer through the wavier process as allowed in the statute who makes application within the 18 months but who does not . successfully pass the waiver exam until after the 18 months have expired, Parrish stated that "since the waiver process contemplates that the applicant has already passed a basic training course equivalent to Utah's, and since certification hinges only upon successful passage of the waiver exam, an exception to the general rule of strict compliance should be more favorably considered in this situation. . ." |