The police department was also ordered to reimburse Lt. Doug Luse for lost wages and benefits and remove any reference to the firing from his personnel file.

Luse, who has worked for the department since 1987, was fired March 28, 2007.

How much money he’ll receive has not been calculated. In 2007, he was earning $8,201 a month, for a base annual salary of $98,412 a year, and his 2008 monthly salary is $8,554, or an annual salary of $102,648, said Kim Kapp, police spokeswoman. 

Seattle arbitrator Michael H. Beck wrote in his decision that the department did not conduct a timely investigation and had insufficient evidence to support the findings that led to Luse’s firing:

- That during an April 12, 2006, standoff with a homeless man who’d barricaded himself in an empty house, Luse three times ignored Assistant Chief Mitch Barker’s request to find out if the man had any weapons;
- That Luse lied to internal affairs investigators about ignoring Barker;

- And that in June 2006, Luse ignored repeated requests to call an assistant city attorney, who had concerns one of Luse’s officers forcibly arrested a man without legal justification. 

Luse appealed his termination through the union which represents lieutenants and commanders, the Office and Professional Employees International Union, Local 11.

Union attorney Michael Tedesco said Wednesday that he and Luse were just going to let Beck’s ruling speak for itself.

Luse will return to work July 7.

Vancouver Police Chief Cliff Cook said Wednesday he could not comment on the case. Since the findings against Luse had been overturned, he said, it was no longer a matter of public record.

Luse was fired shortly before Cook took over the department, replacing Chief Brian Martinek, who’d resigned.

During the search for a new chief, Barker was in charge. Commander Nanette Kistler was his second-in-command, and she had made the call to fire Luse, according to Beck’s report.

Beck wrote that the internal affairs investigation took too long and that Barker, who signed off on the firing, showed bias toward Luse for suggesting a few weeks after the 2006 standoff that Luse take a voluntary demotion to sergeant.

Beck also wrote that the department could not meet the standard of “clear and convincing evidence” and Luse deserved that much consideration.

“Here we have (Luse), with a 20-year career as a police officer, corporal, sergeant and lieutenant with the VPD,” Beck wrote. “A finding that (Luse) engaged in insubordination and the making of false statements would not only result in termination … but would end his career as a law enforcement officer.”

Stephanie Rice can be reached at 360-735-4549 or stephanie.rice@columbian.com.