“Plaintiffs, for their own personal agendas, have sought to undermine the duly appointed police chief and Nampa Police Department leadership,” the city’s answer to the officers’ federal lawsuit states. “Thereafter, plaintiffs made baseless allegations, ignored Police Department policies, and took their complaints outside the normal chain of command.
“It is specifically and adamantly denied that plaintiffs’ allegations were ignored.”
Nampa Mayor Tom Dale and Police Chief Bill Augsburger filed the document Friday in response to a lawsuit filed Sept. 29 by Lt. Joe Huff, Sgt. Curtis Shankel, investigator Leonard Claunts and Claunts’ wife, Ginger.
The longtime officers say they reported policy violations and misuse of city funds to Augsburger — and ultimately to the mayor — resulting in little or no discipline. Instead, they said, the department launched “a campaign of retaliatory harassment.”
In its response, the city denies retaliation and contends Augsburger didn’t ignore allegations about other officers. Instead, the response states, Augsburger took disciplinary actions he deemed appropriate and the plaintiffs disagreed with those decisions.
Among the misconduct the plaintiffs say they reported, to no avail, were one officer’s use of excessive force and an officer repeatedly showing up for work under the influence of alcohol.
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