The Pocono
(Pennsylvania) Record - “Pocono Mountain Regional Police Commission
investigation kept from public” – August 24th, 2014:
The Pocono Mountain Regional Police Commission hired an attorney last year to conduct an investigation of then-chief Harry Lewis that eventually cost $56,053, without approving it at a public meeting, records show.
Now, the commission is withholding the report based on a privately executed agreement signed with Lewis and his lawyer.
The department responded to a Right-to-Know request this week for the invoices from Philadelphia attorney, Neil A. Morris, hired to conduct the investigation. Coolbaugh Township commission representative Bill Weimer revealed the investigation for the first time earlier this summer, estimating it cost $50,000, while demanding to see a copy of the resulting report.
Lewis, whose last day was Aug. 8, left his handgun in an unlocked department vehicle at his Allentown-area home the night of May 19-20, 2013. Two teens who were allegedly going through unlocked cars in the area were accused of stealing it before one sold it on the streets of Allentown.
A series of invoices on "Chief Harry Lewis (Lost Weapon Issue)" starting in July 2013 shows Morris began billing for hours July 8 and continued through Dec. 12. In that time, Morris' then firm Archer & Greiner billed 213.7 hours of work. The department spent $27,606 in October alone investigating.
Lewis denied he was disciplined after what he said in early November was an "internal review" that was thorough and concluded.
Police commission representative and Coolbaugh Supervisor Juan Adams has said Lewis was punished, but has not specified how. Officials have not confirming the discipline question, calling it a personnel matter exempt from disclosure.
Minutes reviewed throughout 2013 do not show any motion to approve hiring the attorney. The department last week also denied a Right-to-Know request for a record of the commission's approval because the records do not exist.
"There are no minutes of executive session meetings of Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department," the denial said in explanation.
Police Solicitor Harry Coleman has not responded to several requests for comment, but commission chair Jim Frutchey said he sees no problem with the executive session decision-making.
But the two closed-door decisions to hire an attorney and sign the agreement with Lewis are problematic, said Kim de Bourbon of the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition.
"Public boards cannot take votes on official action behind closed doors. Period," de Bourbon, a former Pocono Record editor, said by email. "Sometimes courts have allowed so-called 'straw polls' in executive session, as long as official votes are made in public."
De Bourbon said the investigation could be viewed as internal because it was conducted by the commission with outside help, not by state or federal agencies.
Melissa Beven Melewsky, media law counsel at the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said both executive session decisions indicate compliance problems with the Sunshine Act.
Without disclosing private personnel issues, the commission should have acted in public, she said.
"They have to give the public enough information to determine whether or not they want to comment," she said.
The Pocono Mountain Regional Police Commission hired an attorney last year to conduct an investigation of then-chief Harry Lewis that eventually cost $56,053, without approving it at a public meeting, records show.
Now, the commission is withholding the report based on a privately executed agreement signed with Lewis and his lawyer.
The department responded to a Right-to-Know request this week for the invoices from Philadelphia attorney, Neil A. Morris, hired to conduct the investigation. Coolbaugh Township commission representative Bill Weimer revealed the investigation for the first time earlier this summer, estimating it cost $50,000, while demanding to see a copy of the resulting report.
Lewis, whose last day was Aug. 8, left his handgun in an unlocked department vehicle at his Allentown-area home the night of May 19-20, 2013. Two teens who were allegedly going through unlocked cars in the area were accused of stealing it before one sold it on the streets of Allentown.
A series of invoices on "Chief Harry Lewis (Lost Weapon Issue)" starting in July 2013 shows Morris began billing for hours July 8 and continued through Dec. 12. In that time, Morris' then firm Archer & Greiner billed 213.7 hours of work. The department spent $27,606 in October alone investigating.
Lewis denied he was disciplined after what he said in early November was an "internal review" that was thorough and concluded.
Police commission representative and Coolbaugh Supervisor Juan Adams has said Lewis was punished, but has not specified how. Officials have not confirming the discipline question, calling it a personnel matter exempt from disclosure.
Minutes reviewed throughout 2013 do not show any motion to approve hiring the attorney. The department last week also denied a Right-to-Know request for a record of the commission's approval because the records do not exist.
"There are no minutes of executive session meetings of Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department," the denial said in explanation.
Police Solicitor Harry Coleman has not responded to several requests for comment, but commission chair Jim Frutchey said he sees no problem with the executive session decision-making.
But the two closed-door decisions to hire an attorney and sign the agreement with Lewis are problematic, said Kim de Bourbon of the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition.
"Public boards cannot take votes on official action behind closed doors. Period," de Bourbon, a former Pocono Record editor, said by email. "Sometimes courts have allowed so-called 'straw polls' in executive session, as long as official votes are made in public."
De Bourbon said the investigation could be viewed as internal because it was conducted by the commission with outside help, not by state or federal agencies.
Melissa Beven Melewsky, media law counsel at the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said both executive session decisions indicate compliance problems with the Sunshine Act.
Without disclosing private personnel issues, the commission should have acted in public, she said.
"They have to give the public enough information to determine whether or not they want to comment," she said.
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