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A Plains police officer was put on a 10-day suspension without pay, but was back on the job as of Saturday. Jared Hutchings is pleased to be back on the job, but his battle with the town is not over. He's not only wanting to recoup his lost pay, but he'd like his name and record cleared. 

Hutchings was suspended after the Plains Police Commission found him to be in violation of three incidents in which Mayor Dan Rowan had already determined he needed disciplinary action and placed him on 10-day suspension at the end of September. Hutchings appealed the mayor's decision while serving six days of his suspension. He was placed back on duty until November 2, when the three members of the Plains Police Commission - Dennis Evans, Tracy Scott and Ron Robinson - held a hearing to determine whether or not the disciplinary action was warranted. The hearing at City Hall lasted for almost two hours with three witnesses for and against Hutchings. The officer completed the remainder of his suspension after the hearing and was back on duty Saturday.

Hutchings, 40, had been accused of being dishonest about asking for time off instead of working during the time of the Sanders County Fair. Hutchings said that weekend would have been his normal time off, but he initially offered to work a portion of the weekend. He told Chief Brian Josephson that he would have his kids Friday night. Meanwhile, he found out that his wife would be taking the children, but since the chief already had the shift covered, he didn't tell the chief that plans with his children had changed. However, Josephson felt Hutchings had lied to him when he discovered the officer was not with his children.

"I had offered to work Friday and Saturday. It doesn't matter what I did on my regular scheduled days off. I was not scheduled to work fair weekend and was not on the schedule for September to work fair weekend. I didn't lie about not having to work, I wasn't scheduled, simple as that," said Hutchings, who now has an attorney and it is taking the case to district court. Plains Officer Chris Reyna spoke as a favorable witness for Hutchings during the hearing.

The chief used phone texts from Hutchings' ex-wife as evidence against him at the hearing. Hutchings, who has been with the department since March 2021, felt using the texts between him and his ex-wife was inappropriate. He asked for time off to be with kids on August 13, but according to phone texts supplied to the chief by Hutchings' ex-wife, on August 30 he told her he had to work. "After reading this, I believe Jared wasn't telling the truth about having the weekend off with his children," Josephson testified at the hearing. Josephson said that he had already given Hutchings the time off and considered it to be a matter of lying to the supervisor in connection with his job. 

"I believe Chief Josephson becoming personally involved in our relationship or lack thereof was one of the most degrading and intrusive things I have experienced while working for the Town of Plains," Hutchings said in his October 8 appeal letter. "It created a hostile environment and adversely affected my work performance," he added. Hutchings said he was never absent from work without permission and was never intentionally dishonest. In his appeal letter, Hutchings agreed to some of the accusations, but believed them to be minor and resolved in a September meeting with the chief and mayor. He had received no oral or written warnings and no written reprimands.

"When we deal with a police officer's dishonesty, there is no other step that we can take but to discipline because that is one of the things that he swears every time he goes into court - to tell the truth. Every report he makes is to tell the truth," said Richard Gebhardt, the town's attorney at the time. Gebhardt added that the chief believed that disciplinary action was the only alternative.

Gebhardt brought up the Brady Rule, a Supreme Court case, at the hearing to illustrate the importance of an officer being truthful. He said that all officers are trained on the rule. Gebhardt said that when a law enforcement officer has been found to be dishonest, it's a prosecuting attorney's obligation to let all defense attorneys know that an officer was found to have lied and that his credibility on the stand would be in question. 

Hutchings was angry that the attorney even brought up the Brady Rule, saying it was a threat to his career and it has created hostility in the department. "Brian never requested me to work fair in the first place. I just asked to keep my regular scheduled days off and he never got back to me with a solid answer and when he did It was to late," said Hutchings.

Josephson testified that on one occasion Hutchings took sick leave but was camping. The chief and mayor counseled him on the practice. As a result of the violations, Josephson contacted the town attorney for guidance. Josephson felt the violations were severe. "The severe part about this is the lying about time off. In our position, we can't have that. Our reputation is based on telling the truth and doing our job and that's not OK," said Gebhardt, who added that Hutchings had abused sick leave privileges by reporting to be sick, but was not. Hutchings acknowledged that he had asked for sick leave, even though he wasn't sick, but took time off to care for his 9-year-old diabetic daughter, who needs constant supervision. He told the chief that it had been a previous practice allowed under the former chief.

Hutchings said that the town policy states that sick leave is allowed for personal illness or illness of immediate family members. "When I didn't have a choice I used sick leave to be with her. During my hearing, both the city attorney and Chief Josephson felt type one diabetes was not a good enough illness to take sick leave even though she is 9 and cannot safely take care of herself along with her diabetic complications," Hutchings said. "It was heartless to hear that a federally protected disability is not recognized in a policy of a town, especially to a single father balancing both work and keeping his daughter alive and safe," he said.

Josephson also brought up that he had been called from a resident that Hutchings was on shift, but at his home for a long period of time. The officer said in his appeal that the public is not familiar with his time off. In addition, with his new schedule he had to stop often to check on his daughter and to change her insulin or glucose blood sugar monitor. "We have always been allowed to take normal breaks on shift and a meal break. Neither have caused any issues since I started with the department almost two years ago," said Hutchings, who added that he never missed any calls for service or ignored radio calls and always kept the previous and present chiefs apprised of his situation. 

All three commissioners asked questions of Hutchings, the witnesses and Gebhardt. Hutchings said that since the meeting with the mayor and chief of police, he has been better at documenting his time and has communicated better with his ex and with dispatch. 

Though the hearing was open to the public, the commission's deliberation was not. Robinson said it took them about an hour to decide, but he added that it was a tough decision. Robinson has been on the commission for about three years, but this was the first time he had to hold a hearing for an officer.  

Hutchings will continue to work with the Plains Police Department, but he's not finished with trying to clear his name.