McLeod vows to counter

The legal and professional saga of Troy Police Chief Robert McLeod’s 2007 Taser incident continues, as he now intends to file a suit against the state board in charge of public safety officer training.

McLeod claims the ramifications of this case have dramatically and negatively affected his career, his family and his well-being. He is still conferring with legal counsel on the best approach to his case, but said he plans on suing the Public Safety Officer Standards and Training Council, or POST for damages done over the course of his court case.

POST, a quasi-judicial board that essentially polices the police, submitted a letter in March 2011 telling McLeod he was under investigation. A year-and-a-half later, no word has come down from POST on McLeod’s certification to be a police officer in Montana.

On Nov. 23, 2007, McLeod used a stun gun on an aggressive suspect, Alfred John (A.J.) Halflich, in McLeod’s squad car while he was already in custody, prompting Halflich to sue McLeod and the City of Troy. The case was settled out of court in 2009 for $100,000. 

Part of the settlement stipulated that for Halflich to receive money for damages, no further official complaints could be filed with higher-up government agencies.

   McLeod alleges that Halflich did file a complaint with POST, and he believes that, for some reason, POST has withheld judgment on his license to be a public safety officer in Montana, leaving McLeod in limbo as to his future with Troy.

   “You wake up every morning and go to bed every night thinking ‘what’s my next career going to be?’” McLeod said. “I’m 50 years old, how am I going to support my family, support my foster children?”

   McLeod said that either someone with a personal grudge against him or just rank incompetence has taken POST more than a year and a half with still no verdict on his certification to be a police officer. 

   This lack of job-security allegedly has caused McLeod undue stress, which has manifested in “documented stress-related illnesses,” the police chief said.

   McLeod said that an assistant attorney general representing POST, told him in an email, in no uncertain terms, to take a six-month leave of absence or prepare to lose his certification and his livelihood. 

This Assistant Attorney General, Sarah Hart, told The Western News she was under contract with POST not to speak to the press and did not offer comment.

Hart has been representing POST in a firestorm of criticism for the agency’s alleged corruption. Wayne Ternes, former director of POST has been placed on administrative leave while a third party performs an investigation of his conduct. POST’s former chairman, Winnie Ore, resigned amid the controversy.

McLeod said this smacks of cronyism and is why he isn’t getting a fair shake.

   “The whole thing is corrupt,” he said. “This has good old boys written all over it.”

   The Troy chief alleges he can prove a biased investigation against him and plans on seeing this case through.

   “My stress level is through the roof,” he said. “My biggest beef is just dragging it out.”

   Clay Coker, acting director of POST, did not return a phone call by press time.

   The Western News will have more on this case as it develops.