BARONE DEMOTED, NOW WHAT FOR HPD

I think anyone following the Stephen Barone "Trigger Happy" event knew that a demotion was inevitable. I had predicted that here pretty much from the start.

At the time, Barone was still in his probationary period as a newly promoted Sergeant and a demotion for any reason during that period was well within Chief Rosado's rights.

I also think termination is now a definite possibility as Barone, who originally seemed remorseful and wanting to prove himself once gain to the community, has now chosen to  dig his heels in to fight what he himself has agreed was inappropriate behavior.

This puts Chief Rosado and others who went into the community to explain Barone's behavior in a difficult spot now. The man who originally seemed as though he wanted to explain himself and start working to rebuild the trust he once had with the community apparently has now done an about face .

Now the issue is "what next"?

Under the Union contract, Baronje must be allowed an internal hearing. He has the choice of selecting his hearing officer from anyone the rank of Captain or above. Since there currently no Captain's at HPD, his hearing officer will most likely be a Deputy Chief of his choice.

The hearing officer will conduct a hearing, similar to a trial, and then make a recommendation to the Chief with his or her findings. The Chief can then accept that recommendation for anything from no action , to discipline or suspension  up to termination. or can completely overrule the recommendation of the hearing officer and go i9n his own direction . I think the original indication that termination was "off the table" might b e totally different now that the circumstances have changed.

Barone originally was willing to talk to community leaders to explain himself. Based upon that , many of those same communi9ty leaders that were insisting on termination from the start had changed their thinking  and were willing to keep an open mind and try to understand the thinking of Police Officers and why the words were used that night.

That has apparently all fallen apart now and some of those same community leaders are now wondering if they were duped from the start. This puts Chief Rosado and the entire HPD in a difficult position of having to back track on assurances made to them.

It was not easy to convince the community leaders to hold off on their rush to judgments, but for the good of the City and HPD, a lot of work was done behind the scenes to make that happen. Now it seems that was all for naught and appears to the community to be just another empty promise.

To those people who endured my phone calls, and calls and meetings with others, trying to make the best out of a bad situation, I apologize. I honestly thought we were dealing in good faith and now that appears not to be true. But, please, don't give up. We have a long ways to go, but I think working together as a community we will continue to have one of the best Police Departments in the Country.

I consider myself lucky to work with HPD when I see what goes on elsewhere and one bump in the road can not be allowed to undermine that.