Why pay severance if cop who shot teen left freely? Kansas probes officer resignation
Did the police officer who shot and killed an Overland Park teen really resign voluntarily? And if so, will all others who resign “voluntarily” get a sweet $70,000 severance package as he did?
That’s the prickly predicament Overland Park officials have put themselves and taxpayers in by swearing to the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training, or CPOST, that officer Clayton Jenison resigned purely of his own accord.
That dubious claim — made to CPOST under penalty of perjury — certainly is bogus on its face.
For one thing, city officials admit they approached Jenison about him resigning — not the other way around — after he fatally shot 17-year-old John Albers while on a welfare check on the troubled youth in January 2018.
For another thing, there’s that tidy little severance, which became publicly known only last June. Who, except for the gold-parachuted CEO, gets to take a year’s pay when leaving a job by choice?
“They clearly did not want him as an officer, and they wanted him gone so badly they gave him a large sum of money,” Albers’ mother Sheila Albers says, arguing that Overland Park lied under oath to CPOST. “If you walk away for personal reasons, you don’t walk away with anything other than money for work already completed. It is grossly misleading that the city claims he left voluntarily ‘under ordinary circumstances’.”
That claim has now put Police Chief Frank Donchez in hot water of an undetermined temperature: Upon Albers’ written complaint, CPOST is now investigating Donchez for having signed that form indicating a voluntary resignation for Jenison.
State law provides that CPOST “may suspend, condition or revoke the certification,” or “reprimand or censure a police officer” who “has knowingly submitted false or misleading documents” to the agency.
Is it false or misleading? The city’s assertion that Jenison didn’t resign “to avoid potential disciplinary or adverse employment action” may be technically correct: An investigation of the shooting had indeed been completed without discipline or criminal charges for the officer. Still, it’s inarguably misleading to say he left voluntarily — when, again, it was the city’s idea and it came with a five-figure parting gift.
The question now is, what does CPOST think? It would appear the agency’s own integrity is on the line here, given that its decision will send a message to local law enforcement agencies about how honest and forthcoming they must be about whether resigning officers really are leaving in good standing.
That has something to say about public safety, as well, if trouble officers are allowed to just slip away and pick up a badge in the next town.
This case also goes to the very heart of CPOST’s mission, which includes “providing the citizens of Kansas with qualified, trained, ethical, competent, and professional peace officers,” and preserving “public trust and confidence.”
“If CPOST deems this appropriate behavior, then the whole system of transparency and accountability flies out the window,” Albers argues. “What Overland Park has done undermines the work that Kansas CPOST needs to do.”
As for Overland Park, even if the chief is cleared by CPOST, the city will have established a precedent in which an officer — allegedly of his own free will — gets a big paycheck for walking away.
Is that really what they’re saying? Get into enough trouble with the public and you get a fat severance?
That seems like a no-win situation for residents and taxpayers, as well as a potential safety hazard.