AURORA | The Civil Service Commission has sided with Aurora police Chief Dan Oates and upheld the demotion of a lieutenant accused of skipping work when he was commander of the Metro Gang Task Force.
In a five-page ruling handed down Tuesday morning, the commission said Oates’ decision to demote Lt. Paul Swanson down to officer was the correct one.
“Swanson failed to fully understand the importance of his role and the need to preform in a conscientious, diligent, and highly competent manner,” the commission wrote.
Swanson, who has been with APD since 1986, was demoted in 2011 and appealed the ruling to the Aurora Civil Service Commission. The commission heard five days of testimony on Swanson’s case last week.
Oates handed down the demotion amid allegations that Swanson wasn’t showing up for his assignment with the gang task force, but still filing for overtime pay.
Swanson appealed nine specific rulings against him, including accusations that he was habitually late, failed to do the work he was paid for, did an unsatisfactory job when he was at work and neglected his duties. The commission sided with Oates on eight of the nine categories, ruling in Swanson’s favor only on the accusation that his conduct involved “moral turpitude.”
Swanson’s lawyers argued last week that the demoted officer may have kept atypical hours, but he consistently did the work he was required.
That showed up in the fact that Swanson knew the details about grants the task force sought, and knew details about the task force’s equipment inventory.
“You don’t get that knowledge by not being there,” Donald Sisson, one of Swanson’s lawyers, said during his closing argument Friday.
Department leaders said Swanson didn’t file grant applications on time, but Sisson said during Swanson’s time at the helm of the gang task force, he doubled the number of grants received.
“Actually, he did the work. The only question is should he have done it a few days earlier,” Sisson said.
Sisson said Swanson did nothing wrong, and if he did, he should have been offered counseling or a chance to improve his performance, not demoted.
“There is no discipline that should be warranted in this case,” he said.
But Deputy City Attorney Peter Morales, who argued the city’s case, said Swanson’s time sheets were consistently inaccurate.
And, it wasn’t just that Swanson did the work on his own schedule, several people connected to the task force said much of the work wasn’t done, Morales said.
During his five-minute closing argument, Morales repeated the prase “work for pay” seven times, trying to drive home the point that Swanson didn’t earn his salary.
Morales said it was also important for Swanson to be present at the task force headquarters because he was the commander there.
“In order to lead you have to be there,” he said.
Chief Oates has found the road to discipline; don’t fire demote.