Mount Vernon’s acting police chief was suspended this week,
making him the third police department employee — and second police chief — to
be suspended this summer.
Acting Chief George Hartz was suspended for three days
without pay starting at 12:01 a.m. yesterday for conduct unbecoming an officer,
said David Glass, Mount Vernon’s safety-services director. Hartz can return to
work on Thursday.
Glass would not elaborate on the circumstances surrounding
Hartz’s suspension, other than to say his actions involved another person who
was not employed by the Mount Vernon Police Department.
Hartz, a 19-year veteran of the department, has been filling
in for Police Chief Mike Merrilees.
Merrilees and police Sgt. Kit Morgan were suspended with pay
on July 12 because of an internal investigation into their actions involving a
former officer who has filed a federal lawsuit over his dismissal.
The officer, Mark Perkins, was fired from the department in
April. Perkins’ suit claims that Merrilees and Morgan discriminated against him
because he had served in the Marines and was a member of the National Guard.
Perkins’ suit alleges that Merrilees passed him over for promotions and made
his work life difficult by refusing to approve time off for National Guard
activities.