Williams Rejects Call to Dismiss 2 Officers

In the first termination cases to cross his desk, Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams has rejected recommendations by police tribunals and instead ordered the reinstatement of an officer accused of abusing her sick leave benefits and another charged with insubordination.

In the case of Officer Carol Posner, a nine-year veteran, a Police Department Board of Rights panel voted unanimously recently that she should be fired for contending that she was injured when she was physically able to work.

The board came to its conclusion after viewing a videotape of Posner made by Internal Affairs Division detectives, in which Posner is seen performing chores at her horse stable in May, 1991.

Explaining its recommendation, the board noted that the department is understaffed and that the city is in desperate need of able-bodied officers.

But Sgt. Greg Dust, who defended Posner during the disciplinary hearing, said Thursday that Williams’ decision to suspend the Foothill Division officer for 66 days instead of firing her was “more than fair.”

Dust said that in appealing the recommended firing to the new chief, he cited five other cases in which male officers similarly convicted of benefits abuse received lesser penalties. The male officers, he said, had been found working off-duty jobs while on injured status.

In the second reinstatement, Williams set aside a disciplinary board’s unanimous recommendation to fire Officer Gary Eppenger for making inappropriate remarks to two supervisors last October.

Police officials on Thursday declined to provide details of the remarks that led to the severe recommendation, but they contended that Eppenger has had a history of insubordination. Rather than fire the 29-year-old Eppenger, the new chief instead ordered him reinstated with a 44-day suspension.

In a third police disciplinary case, Capt. Jerry Conner, 54, who was given a 22-day suspension by a police disciplinary board on Monday for making inappropriate remarks to a female subordinate, filed Thursday for his pension retirement. The 29-year Police Department veteran said he will retire next month.