A Clark County deputy who was fired for canceling his response to a 911 call has been reinstated after sheriff’s office administrators reviewed the incident.
Ed Bylsma, a deputy with the sheriff’s office who was fired Sept. 9, returned to work Feb. 16. The agency’s decision to reinstate Bylsma comes with a stipulation that he not receive back pay for his four months off the job.
Sheriff Chuck Atkins and his administration reviewed the case and consulted the civil division of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office before reinstating Bylsma. He was reinstated before the matter entered arbitration.
“The discipline was modified to an unpaid suspension for the period of time Deputy Bylsma was unemployed, which was approximately four months,” Undersheriff Mike Cooke said in an email. “We looked at the totality of circumstances including the policies and practices in place at the time of the event. There was a consensus that an arbitrator would likely reverse the termination.”
Bylsma, who has served as a deputy since 1995, was terminated for not responding to a 911 hang-up call at a Fargher Lake-area home where deputies found a couple dead of an apparent murder-suicide three days later.
An internal investigation into the incident concluded Bylsma failed to perform the basic duties of a deputy, failed to perform his duties in a competent manner and failed to promptly respond to calls in a timely manner.
The 911 call in question took place minutes before noon on March 28, 2014, when dispatchers received a hang-up call from 38302 N.E. Mint View Road.
Dispatchers called back and spoke with a man at the residence, who said his wife had accidentally called 911, according to an internal investigation report. Upon further questioning, which included the dispatcher asking to speak to his wife, the man answered as if he didn’t understand and hung up, the report said.
The interaction was odd enough that the dispatcher coded the call as a higher priority — a welfare check — and the call was assigned to Bylsma. In the call’s notes, which were displayed on the computer in Bylsma’s patrol car, the dispatcher sent Bylsma a note saying, “at your discretion,” according to the internal investigation report.
Bylsma, who was driving north on state Highway 503 on his way to a lunch date, was dispatched to the call. He told the internal affairs investigator he skimmed the information on his computer and asked the dispatcher over the radio if there was any prior police contact at the address and learned there wasn’t, according to the report. Bylsma called the residence twice, both calls lasting one minute or less. A few minutes later, Bylsma canceled the call — designating it as “information only,” the report said.
Bylsma did not physically go to the residence and did not get his supervisor’s approval prior to canceling the call.
On March 31, 2014, the son of Fay Allen called 911 because he was concerned he hadn’t heard from her in several days. When deputies arrived, they found the bodies of Fay Allen and Milton “Wayne” Allen. Investigators and an autopsy found evidence that Wayne Allen shot Fay Allen before shooting himself.
Clark County sheriff’s Sgt. Fred Neiman said that at the time of the shooting, there was not a written policy that specifically addressed deputies canceling calls.
Bylsma’s termination was challenged by the Clark County Deputy Sheriff’s Guild, which claimed that based on the guild’s own investigation, Bylsma did not violate his responsibilities as a law enforcement officer.
Mark Makler, general counsel for the guild, said in an interview in December that the lack of policy specific to canceling calls caused inconsistencies for deputies.
“It’s a moving target,” Makler said.
A representative from the guild could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The sheriff’s office administration under former Sheriff Garry Lucas started the process of adopting a policy stating that only sergeants may cancel a 911 call, removing a deputy’s ability to choose whether to respond, Cooke said. The new policy has since been adopted under Atkins.
