A Newark police officer has been suspended
without pay for 18 work days for calling in sick and then improperly opening
the local Fraternal Order of Police lodge for drinks with friends after legal
serving hours.
The punishment was issued to Officer Adam
Pfannenschmidt on Oct. 3. He will be eligible to return to his $52,617-a-year
job on Nov. 2, Newark Police Chief Steven Sarver said yesterday.
“It’s not the kind of conduct we want from our
officers,” Sarver said. “It makes us look bad."
Pfannenschmidt, 39, has been a patrol officer
since December 2007. He is a good officer who behaved badly and deserved
punishment, Sarver said.
Sarver gave this account:
Pfannenschmidt called in sick on July 20 last
year for his 5 p.m.-to-3 a.m. shift. Policy requires sick employees to stay at
home. Instead, Pfannenschmidt went to the FOP lodge about 3 a.m. on July 21
with another man and two topless dancers, one of whom is his girlfriend. The
group drank 12 beers without paying.
A sergeant driving by about 5 a.m. noticed the
lodge was occupied when it should not have been and found the officer and his
friends.
The lodge is licensed to serve liquor but not
after hours, Sarver said. Pfannenschmidt is a lodge trustee and used his key to
enter. He told internal investigators that he had done so about 10 times.
Pfannenschmidt was suspended for four work
days without pay last year after he lied about an injury he suffered in a bar
fight that resulted in extended sick time. The punishment for the more-recent
misconduct, which Pfannenschmidt did not contest, was thus more severe, Sarver
said