Darien dismisses police chief
DARIEN — The Darien Village Board on Saturday morning dismissed Police Chief Steve DeVoy.
DeVoy will remain a paid employee of the village pending a hearing, said William Stanley, a Madison attorney hired by the village.
As a law enforcement officer, DeVoy has the right to a hearing, although a hearing has not yet been scheduled nor have people been named to conduct the hearing, Stanley said.
DeVoy has been suspended with pay since Dec. 1.
The vote to discharge was the result of four charges:
-- Conducting unauthorized surveillance of village offices.
-- Violating the village employee manual by placing and sharing offensive and obscene material on the department e-mail system, installing unauthorized software on the system and deleting material that was required to be retained.
-- Creating a hostile work environment and exposing the village to liability by conducting an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate employee.
-- Failing to provide leadership for the department.
DeVoy declined to comment, and The Janesville Gazette was unable to reach DeVoy’s attorney for comment.
Saturday’s vote, made after more than an hour of closed-session discussion, was not unanimous.
Before the discharge vote, board member Craig McCue moved to reinstate DeVoy and to discipline him internally and “keep all this from being a public display.”
Board member Allen Kenyon seconded McCue’s motion. They were the only two to support the motion and the only two to vote against dismissing DeVoy.
The “all this” McCue was referring to is unclear.
The village has not been talking about the reasons for DeVoy’s suspension, and the document listing the four charges is the first information the board has shared publicly since DeVoy was suspended.
Through the Wisconsin Open Records Law, the Gazette has requested copies of the information that supports the charges. The Gazette has received copies of the documents regarding the installation of the cameras but still is waiting on documents supporting the other charges.
According to Walworth County Sheriff’s Office documents, Det. Michael Banaszynski installed the cameras Nov. 22 after DeVoy turned to the sheriff’s office for help. DeVoy suspected village board President Bob Metzner and Darien Sgt. Mike Maltese of searching through police records, according to sheriff’s office documents.
DeVoy placed “bait” on his desk—a manila envelope bearing Metzner’s name, but the cameras did not record anyone touching the bait, according to sheriff’s office documents.
The sheriff’s office dismissed the case as unfounded.
Mar 13, 2009 at 12:47 a.m.
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test
Mar 10, 2009 at 9:30 p.m.
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You go crazysue. Thank you for standing up for the good guy. I went to chillis and Mr big shot ran out the door.
Mar 10, 2009 at 9 p.m.
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blacktaz, what is this obsession you have with other people's names?
crazysue, if you are indeed a good friend of the Chief, please let him know there are a lot of people here pulling for him.
Mar 10, 2009 at 7:57 p.m.
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hello again mr. mooser, are you related to the village idiot? gosh it sure sounds like your his mama you got his brains.do you have the date and time and where were you when he was reading porn wheres your proof. unless you see it with your own eyes then shut up. you people of darien need to stop the board follow them go with them to there secret meetings at windys wow that was hard to figure out. sit next to them ask questions drive them nuts. get on those streets of darien and start fighting for your chief don't do it on this box. make signs make noise, let yourselves be heard. you people only have3 weeks so get on the ball. a very good friend of the chiefs and his wife!!!!!!
Mar 10, 2009 at 5:10 p.m.
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mooser why don!t you butt out if you want to make false claims or maybe you can!t read? You fools need to leave debio along. Like I said before if you are afraid to post your name along with your junk you must be chicken.S .
Mar 10, 2009 at 11:52 a.m.
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Anything I say would be removed
http://gazettextra.com/news/2009/mar/10/...
Mar 10, 2009 at 10:47 a.m.
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Whoops, guess I asked my question below a day too early.
Mar 10, 2009 at 8:31 a.m.
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worriedaboutdarien
What are the facts on Putman? Do you have something other than gossip?
Mar 10, 2009 at 8:13 a.m.
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my understanding is that what he was looking at online was NOT porn. It was jokes sent to him from the Walworth County sheriffs Dept. I hate people who talk on these things and start crap without knowing the facts. Fact is putman and metzner have to go.
Mar 10, 2009 at 6:08 a.m.
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DebiO needs to stop making accusations and do something positive for a change.
Mar 9, 2009 at 9:54 p.m.
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Where does it say "chief that sits in his office and looks at porno"? Or is this someomes way of starting yet another rumor?
Mar 9, 2009 at 7:09 p.m.
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This is the third day & we haven't heard from DebiO
What gives?
Mar 9, 2009 at 5:23 p.m.
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Ann Marie: Keep up the good reporting! I know how difficult it can be to try and report a story when so much information is NOT available.
I just posted on another forum, and I will touch on it here: I am impressed with your (and other Gazette reporters') ability to report the news without bias.
Wth this - as so many other topical stories - I am on neither side. I have commented a lot, but all in the interest of aiding citizens to understand legal and government processes and become more involved in those processes. I am waiting for all the facts to come in before I come "off the fence," (though I do empathize with Chief DeVoy because I know how difficult these things are AND because I know that some small town politicians get excessively wrapped up in their sense of power).
Thaks for the dedication and professionalism, Ann Marie!
Mar 9, 2009 at 1:50 p.m.
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JimPl- No village board members filed the notice of claim. Ten village employees filed the notice. If you scroll up from the comments, you can find a link to the story, written by reporter Gina Duwe, on Feb. 27.
Reporter Ann Marie Ames
Mar 9, 2009 at 1:45 p.m.
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The previous comments on this story can be found here:
http://gazettextra.com/weblogs/latest-ne...
Mar 9, 2009 at 1:39 p.m.
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I hope the citizens of Darien stand up and not vote for putman or metzner in April!!!!!
Mar 9, 2009 at 1:28 p.m.
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I think this is a personal vendeta agonst chief and some of those pupets on the villige board how to stand up to metzner and do whats right put our chief back to work
Mar 9, 2009 at 12:45 p.m.
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Two voted NOT to fire him and handle it internally.
Mar 9, 2009 at 12:43 p.m.
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To Metzner and the ilk: 'Oh what tangled webs we weave, when we practice to deceive.'
Mar 9, 2009 at 12:04 p.m.
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How many on the Board voted to fire him AND also were ones to file that notice of claim in an earlier story?
Mar 9, 2009 at 10:05 a.m.
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If maltease was involved wouldnt that be a hostile enviorment also? There needs to be deeper investigations by the WCSD and Paper to see what maltease has his little hands in.
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