Sheriff stands by firing of deputies

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Bensley

May 30, 2010

By ALEX PIAZZA and BRIAN McGILLIVARY apiazza@record-eagle.com bmcgillivary@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Sun May 30, 2010, 08:04 AM EDT

TRAVERSE CITY — Grand Traverse Sheriff Tom Bensley knows tension is brewing in his department over his decision to fire two deputies.

Bensley terminated deputies Robert Sillers and Mark Noffke after they pleaded guilty to giving a city police officer preferential treatment during a February traffic crash. But grumbling in the ranks won't stop Bensley from ruling any differently if a similar situation arises.

"The atmosphere is a little different than it was six months ago, but you can't just turn back the clocks," Bensley said. "Common sense will tell you that their friends and colleagues will be upset with my decision. You can't please everybody. The whole process was not fun, not easy."

Sheriff's Detective Paul Postal last week attended the ex-deputies' 86th District Court sentencing to show support for his former colleagues. Postal, a police union representative, said department morale has suffered since Bensley fired Sillers and Noffke.

"We are definitely disappointed in the sheriff's decision," Postal said. "Our guys are truly sorry, and they've never been in trouble before this. It's a misconception that police officers are super-human. We're not. We make mistakes just like everybody else."

Sometime around 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 7, Sillers and Noffke decided they wouldn't give field sobriety or other alcohol tests to off-duty Traverse City Police officer Joseph L. Soffredine after he crashed and burned his vehicle off Cedar Run Road in Garfield Township.

They also failed to cite Soffredine for expired license plates, then drove him home while firefighters extinguished his SUV.

Sillers and Noffke admitted in court that they failed to further investigate Soffredine's crash because of his law enforcement status. Their union, the Police Officers Association of Michigan, filed a grievance immediately after their terminations, and requested both be reinstated to full-time status.

If an arbitrator doesn't order them back to work, they may have to pursue other careers, observers suspect.

"I think they'll be hard-pressed to find another job in law enforcement," said Larry Fleis, a Grand Traverse County commissioner who retired from the Traverse City Police department as a captain. "I don't know anybody who'd be willing to stick their neck out under those circumstances."

Their termination leaves two vacancies on the sheriff's road patrol, and Bensley said the spots will remain open until after the conclusion of the grievance process. Bensley said he's unsure whether he would keep the deputies on road patrol or assign them to a desk job, if they're reinstated.

"If they get their job back, I don't expect to blackball them," Bensley said. "You can't put somebody on the blacklist forever. We're not going to change the way we do business."

Meanwhile, city police won't further discipline Soffredine after his guilty plea last week to impaired driving. Traverse City Police Chief Mike Warren in March suspended Soffredine for four weeks without pay as they investigated his involvement in a Feb. 7 incident at the House of Doggs restaurant on Union Street.

"The action that Chief Warren took was probably on the severe side," Fleis said. "People seem to forget police officers are human, and they make mistakes. He made a mistake, and it was a severe lapse in judgment."

Bensley downplayed talk of a rift between city police and the sheriff's department based on how each entity handled disciplinary matters. Postal also refuted any tension between local law enforcement officials and the county prosecutor's office, which charged Sillers, Noffke and Soffredine with crimes.

"If a prosecutor feels a crime is committed, he obviously has a duty to prosecute and pursue what charges that he can," Postal said.

But Jennifer Tang-Anderson, an assistant county prosecutor, contends there's been an attitude shift between law enforcement and the prosecutor's office since the officers were charged.

Tang-Anderson, a candidate for a judicial seat in the 86th District Court, wasn't involved in the police cases, but said she supports Prosecutor Alan Schneider's actions.

"I definitely have a feeling there is some animosity toward our office, but I'm very proud of what we do, and if people are upset with me, so be it," she said.

Schneider said he hasn't noticed or personally experienced any change in the way police interact with him, but added that assistant prosecutors have more contact with local authorities.

The Soffredine incident served as a wake-up call to the law enforcement community, some officials believe, and authorities understand its aftermath could result in increased hostility toward police.

"I suspect some of our officers will go out to a complaint where people will talk about this situation," Bensley said. "Unfortunately, we're not through this yet."