Police Chief James Roche has charged a fourth officer in three years with violating department rules and regulations and is seeking to suspend the unidentified officer for more than five days.
The city’s Board of Police and Fire Commissioners has scheduled a hearing for 7 p.m. Wednesday in the City Council’s committee room at City Hall, 2 E. Main St.
Board Chairman James Urhausen said the three-person panel will publicly identify the charged officer at that time, then likely adjourn into a closed session to conduct the hearing.
In 1991, the board suspended a sergeant for 28 days after Roche charged that he entertained guests at the station and in squad cars on his shift.
Last summer, the board suspended one patrol officer for 28 days and another for five after the chief charged that they were among a crowd drinking alcohol after closing hours at a local tavern.
Urhausen said that before the 1991 case, the last time charges against an officer were brought was in 1985 under a different police administration.
“For a department this size, having to discipline four officers over a three-year period is not that bad,” said Urhausen, who has served on the board since 1986 and as chairman since 1988. The St. Charles Police Department has 48 sworn officers.