Judge Upholds Firing of Simi Police Officer

A hearing officer has upheld Simi Valley’s decision to fire one of its police officers, who later campaigned unsuccessfully for a seat on the City Council.

David Jeffrey Weiner, a 10-year veteran of the Police Department, was fired in February after a series of internal investigations into charges of improper conduct. City officials have declined to comment on the case, citing privacy laws.

Weiner said in an interview that he was falsely accused of exposing himself to a woman he was investigating, and charged with improperly releasing internal department records to private citizens.

But Weiner said he received a letter Saturday from an administrative law judge named Sara Adler telling him that she had ruled that the city was right to fire him.

“She said that if you had taken each [allegation] individually, given my record, it would nowhere near constitute [grounds for] termination,” Weiner said Tuesday. “But since the city decided to stack them all together, they were successful in termination.”

Weiner said he will abide by City Manager Mike Sedell’s final decision, and has withdrawn a $500,000 civil claim that he filed over the allegations made against him during the five-day arbitration.

Weiner ran this fall for a City Council seat, campaigning for stronger police programs, better equipment and a change in the department’s top management.