Dismissed Cape Town police station commander Charlene Chandler claims she was duped into pleading guilty to manipulating crime statistics and has appealed against being fired.
Chandler’s lawyer, Michael Bagraim, said the police broke an agreement with Chandler that if she pleaded guilty at her disciplinary hearing to manipulating crime statistics she could return to work.
Chandler who has notched up 20 years’ service was the Lansdowne station commander and, last year, was voted runner-up in the Western Cape contest for the best station commander.
Police have refused to comment on their investigation or the details of her disciplinary case. However, Chandler has alleged she was never criminally charged with defeating the ends of justice because she is innocent and there is no evidence against her.
Bagraim is awaiting the police response to her appeal, in October last year, to her dismissal. Chandler is being paid her salary until her appeal is heard.
He said that as part of a deal between the prosecution and defence at her disciplinary hearing Chandler and two other officers were told that if they pleaded guilty they would be suspended for three months then sent back to work.
“She has always maintained her innocence but it was easier for her to accept a plea bargain, be suspended and go back to work,” said Bagraim this week. “The other two were allowed back to work, but she was fired.”
Inspectors Jerome Norris and Candice van der Spuy were found guilty and dismissed, but remained at work after receiving six-month suspended sentences.
The three officers were charged with manipulating the crime statistics for the months of October and December in 2008, but Chandler claims that the figures for these months were higher than those in the previous year. If they were massaged, she said, she would have not left them so high.
Bagraim said Chandler appeared to be “a sacrificial lamb” in the disciplinary hearing that followed the outcry over allegations that crime statistics at identified Western Cape police stations were being distorted.
If the appeal fails, Bagraim said, he will take her case to the Labour Court. The Mail & Guardian has learned that sympathetic members of the police force have now offered to sponsor her fight in court if she loses the appeal.
Police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Billy Jones declined to comment on whether an audit of the crime statistics had been conducted at Lansdowne police station.
“This office can confirm only that she [Chandler] has lodged an appeal against her dismissal. We are not going to respond to your questions relating to the contents of the disciplinary investigation and hearing,” said Jones.