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95.765 Removal or reduction in grade -- Grounds -- Procedure -- Suspension
-- Punishment.
(1)
(2)
No member of the police or fire departments shall be removed from the
department or reduced in grade upon any reason except inefficiency,
misconduct, insubordination or violation of law, or violation of the rules adopted
for the departments. Any person may prefer charges against a member of the
police or fire departments, which must be filed in the office of the mayor, who
shall thereupon communicate said charges without delay to the legislative
body. Said charges must be written, signed by the person making such
charges and must set out with clearness and distinctness each and every
charge. It shall be the duty of the mayor and each member of the legislative
body, whenever probable cause appears, to prefer charges against any
member of the police or fire departments whom he or she believes to have
been guilty of any conduct justifying his removal or punishment in the interest
of public order. The charges thus filed shall be written and shall set out with
distinctness and clearness the charges made, and upon the hearing of any
charges, as hereinafter provided, all said charges shall be considered
traversed, and put in issue, and the trial shall be confined to matters related to
the issue so presented. All charges against members of the police or fire
departments shall be filed with the clerk of the legislative body, and within three
(3) days after said filing the legislative body shall proceed to hear and examine
said charges; provided two (2) days before said hearing the member of the
police or fire departments, accused, has been served with a copy of said
charges, and a statement of the day, place and hour at which and when the
hearing of said charges shall begin. The person accused may, however, in
writing, waive the service of said charges, and demand trial within three (3)
days after said charges are filed with the clerk of said legislative body. The
legislative body will have the power to summon and compel the attendance of
witnesses at all hearings or sittings by said body, upon subpoena issued by the
clerk of said body, and served upon said witnesses by any officer authorized to
serve subpoenas from any court of justice in the county. If any witness fails to
appear in response to a summons or refuses to testify concerning any matter
on which he may lawfully be interrogated, any District Judge, on application of
the commission, may compel obedience by proceedings for contempt as in the
case of disobedience of a subpoena issued from the District Court. The
member of the police or fire department, the accused, shall have the right to
have subpoenaed, in his behalf, any witness he may desire, upon furnishing
their names to the clerk of said body, and the action and decision of said body
on said charges shall be reduced to writing and shall be entered in a book to
be kept for that purpose by the clerk of said legislative body, and the written
charges filed in this matter shall be preserved and securely attached to the
book containing the legislative body's decisions.
In cases where the mayor or chief has probable cause to believe that a
member of the police or fire department has been guilty of any conduct
justifying removal or punishment, he may suspend said member from duty, or
from both pay and duty, pending said trial, and said member shall not be
placed on duty or allowed pay thereafter until the charges are heard by the
legislative body. The said body shall fix punishment against a member of the
police or fire departments found guilty of any charge under KRS 95.761 to
95.785, by reprimand or suspension for any length of time in their judgment,
not to exceed six (6) months, or by reducing the grade, if the accused be chief
or other officer, or by combining any two (2) or more of said punishments, or by
removal or dismissal from the service of any such member of the police or fire
department. No member of the police or fire department except as provided in
KRS 95.761 to 95.785 shall be reprimanded, removed, suspended, or
dismissed from the department until written charges have been made, or
preferred against him, and a trial had as herein provided.
Effective:January 2, 1978
History: Amended 1976 (1st Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 14, sec. 121, effective
January 2, 1978. -- Created 1942 Ky. Acts ch. 9, sec. 6.
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