Roechner Setback In Discipline Cases Of 3 Joliet Police Officers

JOLIET, IL — Three Joliet police officers who believe that Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner dished out unfair punishment against them a long time ago received good news Wednesday night from the Joliet Police and Fire Board. The four-person citizens panel voted unanimously to allow each of the three officers: Joe Clement, John Perri and Josh Sawyer to appeal their disciplinary cases to their panel for a hearing.

The decision was a setback for Roechner, who attended the meeting along with all four of his deputy chiefs: Darrell Gavin, Marc Reid, Mike Batis and Joe Rosado. Also in the Joliet City Council chambers but seated in a different part of the room, far away from Roechner's group, were Clement and two members of the Joliet Fraternal Order of Police: Tony Lakota and Mike Devito.

Later, Joliet Patch spotted Perri in uniform on the first floor of the building, but he was still on duty. In recent weeks, Perri has been assigned to monitor City Hall.

As for Clement, he retired from the Joliet Police Department Aug. 1.

Eight months ago, Clement drew a 25-day unpaid suspension from Roechner stemming from an incident at last September's Mexican festival in downtown Joliet. That night, Mayor Bob O'Dekirk complained to Roechner that several people saw Joliet Police Sgt. Lindsey Heavener drinking out of a red plastic cup at the tequila bar.

In the end, Roechner accused Clement of making false statements surrounding the episode involving Heavener, who retired from the Joliet Police Department in January.

Attorney Kelly Coyle, of Clark, Baird & Smith in Rosemont, Illinois, appeared before the Joliet Police and Fire Board Wednesday night saying she was speaking on behalf of Roechner in regard to the three disciplinary cases pending before the panel.

Coyle suggested the Joliet board did not have jurisdiction to handle the cases of Clement, Perri and Sawyer because those suspensions were for 25 days, 12 days and 10 days, respectively.

The Rosemont attorney suggested the board had jurisdiction to decide whether terminations and any discipline imposed by the police chief greater than 30 days should be upheld.

However, Illinois FOP Labor Counsel lawyer Tamara Cummings, who attended Wednesday's meeting and spoke on behalf of three officers, maintained that Clement, Perri and Sawyer all have disputed their punishment, and the three men have been denied their legal due process rights for many months — in Sawyer's case, since December 2018, when the incident concerning his suspension first arose.

Each of the three Joliet officers indicated within a short time frame that they wanted their cases heard by an outside panel, the police and fire board, Cummings explained.

Cummings said that all three Joliet officers actually went ahead and served their recommended unpaid suspensions even though they have always disputed their punishments.

Joliet's police and fire board could uphold the punishment given by the chief, reduce the chief's punishment, or in the alternative, decide the chief's punishment was too lenient and issue an even harsher punishment for Clement, Perri and Sawyer, according to Wednesday's discussion.

"Who dropped the ball?" asked police and fire board chairman Herb Lande.

"Our position is that the chief is not the one who dropped the ball," Roechner's lawyer responded.

The lawyer from Clark, Baird & Smith maintained it was actually the responsibility of Clement, Perri and Sawyer — the officers being punished — to file the proper paperwork with Lande and the rest of his board, and she maintained they failed to do so.

"It's their responsibility to bring the case before you and they just failed to," Coyle argued.

All in all, Wednesday's night decision was considered a victory for officers Perri, Sawyer and Clement and a loss for Roechner and his four deputy chiefs: Gavin, Batis, Rosado and Reid, observers told Patch.

The ruling means Roechner and his administration are now obligated to bring forth their evidence and put on a case in front of the police and fire board to justify why they imposed a 25-day suspension for Clement on Dec. 27, 2019, a 12-day suspension for Perri on Feb. 19 and a 10-day suspension for Sawyer back on Feb. 15, 2019.

Cummings argued Wednesday evening that all three Joliet officers have suffered public humiliation to their reputations and all three men have lost several thousand dollars of income as a result of a disciplinary measure that each of the three strongly dispute.

"Well, the ball was not dropped," Cummings told the board.

She told the board it's ridiculous to suggest that any police officer facing discipline is then to required to be the one to draft the complaint against themselves.

"We've never drafted charges against our own members," remarked Cummings, the state of Illinois FOP lawyer.

On Wednesday night, Lande's panel agreed to schedule disciplinary hearings for Sept. 23 regarding the 10-day suspension issued by Roechner to Officer Sawyer, Oct. 28 for the 25-day suspension issued to Detective Clement, and Nov. 18 for the 12-day suspension given to Officer Perri.

According to Joliet police, it is common practice for the chief's office to issue department-wide notifications when officers are retiring and in some cases notices are issued months beforehand.

However, Roechner did not issue any notice within the Joliet Police Department of Clement's Aug. 1 retirement.

On the contrary, Joliet Patch reported back on Jan. 3 that Roechner issued a department-wide notification that Clement was being given a 25-day unpaid suspension for his role in the Mexican festival controversy.

On July 6, Joliet Patch quoted sources at the Joliet Police Department as saying, "Right now, the department is really run by intimidation and retaliation."