The firing of an Aspen police officer who allegedly reported to duty under the influence of alcohol appears to contradict city policies that recommend rehabilitative measures for a first offense and job termination for a second.
The City of Aspen Personnel Policies and Procedure Manual states that if an employee is impaired, he or she should be driven home and charged with nonscheduled sick leave until he or she can pass a drug or alcohol test. “The employee will be advised by his or her supervisor of the resources available to him or her in evaluating and addressing the employee’s alcohol or drug abuse problem. ... Any employee failing a drug or alcohol test a second time will be immediately terminated.”
Jim Crowley, an 18-year veteran of the Aspen Police Department, was fired last Friday after reporting to work the previous morning and blowing 0.063 in a Breathalyzer test taken after a supervisor turned him in for smelling like alcohol. After driving him home, Aspen police contacted Snowmass Village police and had one of their officers investigate Crowley’s actions. He was arrested at his Aspen home on suspicion of driving while ability impaired (DWAI) and prohibited use of a weapon.
It is the first known incident in which Crowley, 42, has ever been arrested, and the first time he was formally accused of reporting to work while intoxicated.
“There is no justifiable reason to depart from the Policies and Procedures Manual when you have one isolated incident of a guy showing up to work with a hangover over the course of his 18-year career,” said defense attorney Lawson Wills, a former prosecutor who is assisting Crowley with the case as a friend.
“They need to reinstate him, give him a reprimand and get past this,” he said.
Aspen Police Chief Richard Pryor said he reviewed both the city’s policies and the Aspen Police Department’s own policy and procedures manual, and believed his actions were consistent with both. The city’s policy, he said, provides him with some leeway.
“It’s at my discretion how I discipline someone. While the city has a progressed disciplinary approach, given the circumstances, I’m able to make decisions I see fit. The city’s disciplinary policy gives us quite a bit of latitude,” he said.
Further, the Aspen Police Department has its own policies and procedures manual the police chief relied on. It states: “Any excessive use of alcohol while on or off duty which brings or tends to bring discredit or disrepute to the Department shall subject the member to disciplinary action. Members on duty found intoxicated shall be subject to immediate suspension pending an investigation.”
Wills isn’t swayed. He believes the city’s policies governing all workers trump the department’s policies.
“The specific language always governs over the general language which he’s adopting,” he said. “This is the manual that is provided to all city employees, including the police department, and it offers much more specific provisions on this type of incident than in the APD policy. Why isn’t Richard Pryor doing what he told his employees he would do? Through this manual he has told them what he would do in this situation. Why has he told them one thing and done something completely different? What do the other employees think of that? What do they think of a policy manual that is ignored at the discretion of some supervisor? Why even have a policy manual?”
Crowley, who is due in court later this month, has not returned telephone messages.
hoop@aspendailynews.com