Juicy Juicy: Portlands emergency dispatch office suspended employees who shared false hit-and-run allegation

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The Portlands Emergency Communications Office, which handles 911 and non-emergency calls in the city, sanctioned three employees in connection with the information leak that falsely implicated Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty in a misdemeanor accident. leaked on March 3.

BOEC said it completed its investigation into the leaks less than a week ago, on July 29. (BOEC’s investigation is separate from the Portland Police Bureau’s internal affairs investigation into the case, which is still ongoing.)

In total, BOEC sanctioned three employees in connection with the investigation: one on April 17, another on July 14 and a third on July 29. Our investigation found that there had been no external leak from BOEC, office spokesperson Dan Douthit said. The only information the gossip shared by BOEC employees concerned public safety [departments].

According to Douthit, the employee sanctioned on April 17 violated an unspecified office policy, but the level at which this occurred was minor and therefore received coaching [with] their supervisor.

On July 14, BOEC sent a disciplinary letter to an anonymous employee who has worked for the office since August 2016 and whose job title is Senior Emergency Communications Dispatcher.

The disciplinary letter states that the employee received a message from a colleague on March 4 through BOEC’s computer-assisted dispatch system. The message informed the employee of the allegation against Hardesty.

You then characterized this information as juicy juicy and immediately forwarded it to [redacted] with whom you are friends, we read in the letter of discipline. Here again, you called the information juicy. When [redacted] warned that might not be true, you replied, don’t be a cranky … in my head it’s true.

The letter continues: You then contacted [redacted] via (Facebook) Messenger to determine if the call was legitimate. About 45 minutes after your first message to [redacted], you wrote to [redacted] Again, the hardesty thing is legit. You then passed the information on to two other colleagues.

BOEC determined that the employee violated gossip and unprofessional conduct guidelines. The employee was sanctioned with a three-day suspension.

According to the letter, BOEC disciplined, trained or advised the employee on four occasions, including in April 2019, when BOEC sent the employee a letter of advice for exposing confidential information on Instagram.

On July 29, BOEC sent a disciplinary letter to a third employee. The employee’s name is redacted from the letter, which indicates that the individual has worked for the office since March 2016 and their current title is Senior Emergency Communications Dispatcher.

The investigation into the leak revealed that the employee received a message from a colleague via the CAD system on March 4 informing the employee of the hit-and-run allegation against Hardesty.

You responded to that message by wondering why the agents in your dispatch network, who answered the call, were not sharing this same information with you, the letter said. You then immediately sent a CAD message to another employee to tell them, guess it was the city commissioner [sic], thus conveying unverified and inaccurate information that the suspect was Commissioner Hardesty.

Like the previous employee, BOEC determined that this individual had violated the guidelines for gossip and unprofessional conduct. BOEC penalized the employee with a five-day suspension.

The disciplinary letter also describes seven previous instances in which this employee received training, guidance or discipline. The letter says the employee was given a two-day suspension on April 4, 2019 for creating and posting a video on social media in which you were dancing in front of your co-workers on the BOEC property in swimsuits.

The letter says the employee was also given a four-day suspension on June 12, 2019 for making sexual innuendos and engaging in a sexually explicit conversation with another employee while on duty. The office reiterated its expectations for appropriate behavior in the workplace and warned you that your job is in danger.

The two July letters were signed by BOEC Director Bob Cozzie and City Commissioner Mingus Mapps, who oversees the office.

My office took the hit and run seriously, and the Bureau of Emergency Communications investigated and sanctioned employee misconduct, Mapps said in a statement to WW. Although BOEC employees were not the source of the leak, some employees behaved unprofessionally.

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