(A) No member of the police department shall be removed from the department or reduced in rank upon any reason except inefficiency, misconduct, insubordination or violation of law, or violation of the rules adopted for the department. Any person may prefer charges against a member of the police department, which must be filed in the office of the Mayor, who shall thereupon communicate said charges without delay to the City Council. Said charges must be written, signed by the person making such charges and must set out with clearness and distinctness each and every charge. It shall be the duty of the Mayor and each member of the City Council, whenever probable cause appears, to prefer charges against any member of the police department whom he or she believes to have been guilty of any conduct justifying his removal or punishment in the interest of public order. The charges thus filed shall be written and shall set out with distinctness and clearness the charges made, and upon the hearing of any charges, as hereinafter provided, all said charges shall be considered traversed, and put in issue, and the trial shall be confined to matters related to the issue so presented. All charges against members of the police department shall be filed with the Clerk of the City Council, and within three days after said filing the City Council shall proceed to hear and examine said charges; provided two days before said hearing the member of the police department, accused, has been served a copy of said charges, and a statement of the day, place, and hour at which and when the hearing of said charges shall begin. The person accused may, however, in writing, waive the service of said charges, and demand trial within three days after said charges are filed with the City Clerk. The City Council will have the power to summon and compel the attendance of witnesses at all hearings or sittings by said council upon subpoena issued by the City Clerk, and served upon said witnesses by any officer authorized to serve subpoenas from any court of justice in the county. If any witness fails to appear in response to a summons or refuses to testify concerning any matter on which he may lawfully be interrogated, any district court judge, on application of the commission, may compel obedience of a subpoena issued from the district court. The member of the police department, the accused, shall have the right to have subpoenaed, in his behalf, any witness he may desire, upon furnishing their names to the City Clerk, and the action and decision of the City Council on said charges shall be reduced to writing and shall be entered in a book to be kept for that purpose by the City Clerk of said legislative body, and the written charges filed in this matter shall be preserved and securely attached to the book containing the City Council's decisions.
(B) In cases where the Mayor or Chief have probable cause to believe that a member of the police department has been guilty of any conduct justifying removal or punishment, he may suspend said member from duty, or the Mayor may suspend from both pay and duty, pending said trial, and said member shall not be placed on duty or allowed pay thereafter until the charges are heard by the City Council. The City Council shall fix punishment against a member of the police department found guilty of any charge by reprimand or suspension for any length of time in their judgment, not to exceed six months, or by reducing the rank, if the accused be Chief or other officer, or by combining any two or more of said punishments, or by removal or dismissal from the service of any such member of the police department. No member of the police department shall be reprimanded, removed, suspended, or dismissed from the department until written charges have been made, or preferred against him, and a trial had as herein provided.
Statutory reference:
Discipline of police, see KRS Chapter 15, KRS 95.450