Officer’s Hearing Postponed to October

CAPE MAY – The disciplinary hearing for Lt. Chuck Lear of the Cape May Police Department over allegations of what the city terms “police misconduct” in its July 13 release has been postponed until early October. 
The postponement was at the request of the city, but city Solicitor Anthony Monzo said Lear’s attorneys had no objection to the delay. Monzo said the delay was largely the result of the large amount of material produced by the discovery process, some of which included audio recordings that require transcription.
Allegations about abuse of compensatory time by Lear led to the rescinding of the appointment of Robert Sheehan as police chief. The city followed that action with two releases that each contained information related to an ongoing investigation by the County Prosecutor Robert Taylor. 
Taylor responded by placing a monitor in the police department to act as middleman between city officials and the department’s command structure. Both Lear, as the department’s second in command, and Sheehan, who was placed back in his previous rank of captain, still run the department’s operations despite the allegations and the demotion.
In response to Taylor’s actions, the city brought suit in Superior Court seeking to force the prosecutor to remove the monitor. Despite the fact that the city’s five requests for injunctive relief or declaratory judgment were all rejected by Superior Court Judge J. Christopher Gibson, the city, in a July 13 release, called the legal action an “unmitigated success” in terms of gaining the city its ability to hold the disciplinary hearing. 
According to the release, “The filing of the lawsuit achieved concessions from the County Prosecutor’s office which paved the way for a hearing to address the allegations of police misconduct.” It is that hearing, expected next week, that will now be delayed an additional six weeks.
In that same release, the city stated that Policeman’s Benevolent Association Local 59, the bargaining unit for police officers in the city, had filed a motion “to intervene and brief” the court in “full support” of the city’s lawsuit against the prosecutor.
Three days later the city issued a modification and clarification to its release regarding Local 59 softening its earlier statement of full support.
Local 59 issued its own release announcing its decision “to withdraw its previously filed motion.” Citing a misunderstanding of Taylor’s intentions in adding two additional monitors to the police department, the press release went on to assert that “PBA Local No. 59 affirms its supportive position of the County Prosecutor and the Police Chief’s Association as it pertains to the release of any confidential information about police officers from Internal Affairs Investigations.”
The stage is set now for a public disciplinary hearing that is ostensibly about Lear’s alleged misuse of compensatory time in violation of his contract and city policy.
By early October, the controversy that began with the rescinding of Sheehan’s appointment as chief on March 3 will be in its seventh month. Holding this hearing, which under other circumstances might have been a closed door administrative meeting, is now something that was, by the city’s own admission, an important aspect of the city’s unusual step of suing the County Prosecutor. 
The public must wait until October for its outcome.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.