(a) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to establish policy, responsibility and procedures to be adhered to by the members of the Police Department in purging their personnel files of records of disciplinary action.
(b) Disciplinary action defined. For the purpose of this section, the following definition shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
DISCIPLINARY ACTION. Oral reprimands, written reprimands, letters of discrepancy, letters of deficiency, letters of warning and letters of suspension. In addition, it includes all internal investigative reports which resulted in disciplinary action.
(c) Policy.
(1) It is the policy of the Department to purge records of disciplinary action from members’ personnel files in accordance with the reckoning period established in the Township Police Department Disciplinary Code.
(2) All oral reprimands, letters of discrepancy, letters of deficiency and letters of warning will hereby have a six-month reckoning period.
(3) In order for a member to be eligible for purging of his or her personnel file, he or she must not have received disciplinary action during the required reckoning period.
(4) If a member did receive disciplinary action during the reckoning period, he or she will not be eligible until all reckoning periods have expired.
(5) All reckoning periods for the same offense will run concurrently, meaning the reckoning period for the most serious charge will be the period used. All reckoning periods for separate offenses will run consecutively.
(d) Procedure.
(1) A member who has received disciplinary action must wait until all reckoning periods have elapsed.
(2) The member will have the responsibility to request an appointment with the Chief of Police for the purpose of purging his or her personnel file.
(3) Both the affected member and the Chief of Police will be present when documents are destroyed.
(Res. 89-107, passed 8-16-1989)