FATE OF FORKS POLICE DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL EXPECTED TO BE DETERMINED THIS WEEK

By Chris Cook - Forks Forum editor

Two offices and a dispatcher from the Forks Police Department face being fired this week.

All three have received hearings to give their sides of the story at disciplinary hearings before Mayor Nedra Reed. All are on paid administrative leave.

Sgt. Tom Scott, Sgt. JoElle Munger and Communications Officer Deanna Dematteis have been named as the three police staff members.

Two of the hearings were held Wednesday, Feb. 13, with Scott’s scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 19.

One of the officers facing dismissal has told the Forks Forum there will be comments made once the process is completed.
What specific charges are at being discussed at the hearings haven’t been disclosed by the City of Forks.
Mayor Nedra Reed has two to five days following the final hearing to make a decision. She is expected to announce her decision by the end of the week.

The Forks Police Department is made up of seven officers and five dispatchers, in addition to Police Chief Mike Powell.
Due to confidentiality requirements Reed has not commented on the issue, nor did she name the officers or dispatcher.
The mayor faced a tense moment at the Forks Chamber of Commerce meeting held Wednesday, Feb. 13 during a question and answer session following a speech.

Eric Munger, the husband of JoElle Munger, asked the mayor to give examples of officers who left the Forks Police Department to take higher paying jobs, as cited in the Feb. 13 issue of the Forks Forum.
“I won’t discuss the article in the paper, and won’t discuss pending personnel issues to basically satisfy curiosity,” Reed answered.

“One day the truth will out,” she said as she cut off discussion of the issue.

A contingent of law enforcement officers attended the meeting including former City of Forks police officers, as well as the Forks officers and dispatcher who are facing dismissal.

Details of two internal investigations into alleged misconduct by Forks Police Chief Powell were released Sunday in the Peninsula Daily News. The report said the findings of the investigations resulted in training on interpersonal behavior for the police staff including Powell. The training sessions were held in April and in June of 2007.

The allegations were reported to have come from complaints made by the staff to the Teamsters Union, which represents Forks Police Department employees, and from anonymous sources.

A later investigation was undertaken by the Association of Washington Cities. Documents from that investigation are expected to be released by mid-March.

Former employee
Janice McPherson, a former dispatcher with the Forks Police Department, called the Forks Forum last week to clarify how see felt Mayor Nedra Reed characterized her switching employment in a report published in the Feb. 13 issue of the Forks Forum. Reed mentioned places former police department employees had moved to, cited pay and a spouse not liking Forks as reasons for leaving, but didn’t provide any specific names.

McPherson is now a Jefferson County dispatcher and has moved to Port Townsend.

She said the windstorm of Dec. 3 blew the roof off the trailer she then lived in at Bear Creek. McPherson said she was unable to find another rental on short notice in the Forks area.

Though she is a long-time resident of the Forks area, McPherson considered moving to Port Angeles at the end of the year, she said, but still had to quit her job. A job requirement for being a dispatcher with the Forks Police Department is to live within 20 minutes of town.

McPherson said due to tight scheduling within the police department she only had a half-day off following the storm to take care of her personal belongings, and felt helpless about the situation when it was explained to her supervisor at the police department.

When she announced the opportunity to take the higher paying job with Jefferson County she was encouraged to do so, McPherson said.

“I never would have left Forks,” she said of the aftereffect of the storm, though her pay is higher in Jefferson County.
McPherson said she also felt pressure while with the Forks Police Department for being associated with problems encountered by other dispatchers and police officers during an internal investigation within the police department.