Reservist fighting city over police chief job - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Reservist fighting city over police chief job

SHERWOOD, Ore. — After more than a year of questioning prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Bill Middleton of Sherwood says he’d like to resume his job as chief of the Portland suburb’s police.

But the Army reserve officer is on paid administrative leave as he and the city fight over his job status.

Middleton, 57, says the city has effectively demoted him by installing a public safety director, who was interim chief while Middleton was gone. Now, instead of reporting directly to the city manager, he reports to the public safety director, Ron Ruecker, former superintendent of the Oregon State Police.

The city says Middleton’s title, pay and responsibilities did not change.

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act requires employers to keep open positions for service personnel, and to give them everything they would have received had they remained at work.

Nationally, the U.S. Department of Labor reported 1,241 new cases in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available. That was down from the 1,465 cases in 2004, which the department attributes in part to an education campaign. Oregon sees 15 to 20 complaints a year.

In June, an Albany man won $1 million after alleging he was demoted then fired by Target Corp. after joining the Oregon National Guard.

His attorney, Mark Turner of Portland, is also Middleton’s. He says the chief clearly was demoted.

“The city manager specifically told Bill that the only way to keep him as chief of police is to resign from the Army Reserve,” Turner said. “That’s about as smoking gun as you can get.”

“The city doesn’t share that point of view,” Assistant City Manager Jim Patterson said. “There’s always two sides to a story.”

City officials say personnel privacy concerns limit what they can say.

The chief is well regarded. He was grand marshal of the annual Robin Hood Festival parade Saturday. “I love him, he’s so funny,” said Holli Robinson, Sherwood Chamber of Commerce executive director.

Middleton says the city resented his long absences and wanted to stabilize the department — reports around Sherwood describe personal misbehavior in the department while Middleton was away most recently.

He says he’s prepared to file a civil suit in addition to his federal complaint.

Middleton has been in the reserves 28 years. After the 2001 terrorist attacks, he and other reservists with law enforcement backgrounds were assigned to the Defense Department’s Criminal Investigation Task Force.

He said he questioned prisoners to find out whether they were responsible for attacks on American troops. Most were proud of what they’d done and quite willing to implicate themselves, he said.

Middleton was activated in December 2005. In February 2006 he was sent to Iraq for six months. He then spent four months in Afghanistan, followed by six months at the task force base in Virginia and made two trips to the prison at Guantanamo Bay.

He also was deployed for a year in Germany in 2004.