IRVINE : Chief Decides Not to Discipline Officer

Police Chief Charles S. Brobeck said Tuesday that he has decided not to discipline one of the six police officers who two weeks ago was targeted for suspension or firing.

Brobeck made the decision after presiding over a suspension hearing for Officer Henry Boggs on Friday.

Neither Brobeck nor Boggs would say what prompted the action or reveal what allegations led to the hearing.

“There were some mitigating circumstances that changed the intent to discipline,” Brobeck said. “Usually it takes 10 days (to make a decision), but the evidence was clear” in Boggs’ case, Brobeck said.

Boggs said Tuesday that “the decision not to impose any discipline was based (in part) on the time frame involved.” He said the actions that prompted the hearing took place in 1986.

City Hall and Police Department sources said that in the mid-1980s, Boggs manufactured lapel pins with “Code Four Club” printed on them.

In June, two female police employees now suing the department for sexual harassment charged that police officers had sex in the back seats of their patrol cars and formed the Code Four Club to brag about their exploits.

The allegations caused city officials to launch a police internal affairs investigation that found no evidence of such a club at the department. “Code Four” is a police term that means an officer is all right.

Sources said that Boggs manufactured thousands of police-related pins--including the Code Four pins--as a side business in the mid-1980s.

The sources stressed that the Boggs discipline hearing was not related to any sort of sex club and had nothing to do with sexual misconduct. Rather, they said the hearing centered on whether he was authorized by the department to manufacture and sell the pins.

Boggs expressed satisfaction with the hearing’s outcome. “I can say personally that the disciplinary process worked for me,” Boggs said.

Brobeck said that he has completed hearings for three other officers facing discipline, though final decisions have not been made in those cases. Hearings for the two remaining officers are scheduled for later this month.

If the officers are not satisfied with the outcome of their hearings, they can appeal Brobeck’s decision to City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr. Brady could then appoint an administrative law judge to hear the cases.

Officers Mario Asturias and Owen Kreza face suspension, while officers Charles Baxter, Robert Landman and Wayne Shaw are targeted for termination by the department.