Re: Internal Affairs Interviews Good News for COBA Members

Dear COBA Members;

Back in January of this year COBA filed a Class Action Grievance and PERB Charge against the County citing the Dept's newfound refusal to provide the Union with certain information prior to IA interviews of our Members.  

In the past (under Sposato) and up until the departure of former Commissioner Campisi, there was a verbal agreement wherein IA (immediately prior to an interview) would provide a "brief description" of the nature of the allegation against our Member who was about to be interviewed. This generally involved cases of inmate allegations where there was no recorded incident or written paperwork generated. Over the course of the last several weeks and months this became a very contentious and argumentative issue between COBA and the Dept/County.

This past Monday, COBA conducted a 3rd day of Arbitration Hearings in this case. During that hearing and with the assistance of the Arbitrator, cooler heads prevailed and we were able to secure in writing, a protection for our Members that we've never had before, a procedure that many other similarly situated unions don't have for their Members either.  

In essence, the agreement states that whenever one of our Members is to be interviewed by the Internal Affairs Unit, particularly in cases where there are no written reports or a record of an incident, numerous points of information MUST BE PROVIDED TO THE UNION prior to said interview. This to include, the date, time, location and most importantly the specific nature of the complaint. This is to be provided to us in writing "whenever a COBA Member is to be interviewed by IAU as part of an official investigation".

This agreement effectively negates any surprises or "gotcha" moments by IAU or the Dept and is now a part of our contract. This is a major protection that is now afforded to our Members. Formalizing what IA is required to provide to the union and our Members before an interview helps us all be as prepared as possible for the interview.

Great job by Brian Doyle and John Hogan for a lot of hard work that was put in on this case.  

In Unionism;

Brian Sullivan, COBA President