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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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