Mayor fires police chief for doing the right thing

Former police chief James Keller was terminated due to a conflict of interest issues stemming from a disciplinary action. The chief made a mistake worthy of discipline, so he gave himself a suspension. The mayor thinks the chief should have called in an outside investigator to handle the discipline.

This termination stems from an incident that took place on the night Keller’s son turned twenty-one. The chief was out with his son and ended up drinking a bit too much. The next day when he woke up, Keller was majorly hung over. As a matter of fact he might even have been a tad drunk yet. So he called in sick to work at the police department.

As he tells it James realized calling in sick was not right. “A few of my officers were out doing bar checks and saw me out. How had of an example is it for me to then call in sick. A hangover is not acceptable, so I gave myself a suspension for that day.”

The Mayor became aware when city payroll contacted him about how to go about docking the chief’s pay. The mayor was not willing to go on record with us citing employment privacy laws.

Former Chief Keller provided us with his termination letter. It stated that he violated Conflict of Interest policy. He disciplined himself, when he should have had someone else come in to do it. According to one line “you were too lenient on yourself. An outside investigator may have recommended a longer suspension”.

When asked about taking the city to court Keller said that was not his style. “I would love to file a civil lawsuit but what would be the point. If I get that job back I will have a target on my back. Plus I have a buddy who runs a leadership consulting company who keeps bugging me to come work with him. Heck he even wants me as a co-owner in the business, so I got a better gig anyhow.”