Uvalde police chief wins appeal to upgrade discharge status on employment record

The Uvalde School District police chief terminated for his actions on the day of the elementary school shooting last year won his case in court to remove a red flag from his discharge file.

Former Police Chief Pete Arredondo led the officers who responded to the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The shooting killed 19 students and two teachers on May 24. Arredondo and the officers have been under severe scrutiny for waiting over an hour before breaching the classroom where the shooter was stationed with school children.

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Arredondo will still not be able to work in Uvalde, but his record is now cleared in the event that he looks for employment at another agency, according to a report from think tank Texas 2036 released Tuesday.

© Provided by Washington Examiner FILE - Uvalde School Police Chief Pete Arredondo, second from left, stands during a news conference outside of the Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on May 26, 2022. The Uvalde school district’s police chief has stepped down from his position in the City Council just weeks after being sworn in following allegations that he erred in his response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School that left 19 students and two teachers dead. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, File) Dario Lopez-Mills/AP

The former chief was fired in August. He received a less-than-honorable discharge and appealed his discharge status in September.

When a Texas law enforcement officer is fired for any reason, the agency will submit an F-5 employment termination report to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, labeling the discharge as dishonorable, general, or honorable. "Less than honorable" can mean general or dishonorable. An officer can then appeal to the State Office of Administrative Hearings to upgrade their classification.

"The whole point of this … discharge system is to be a red flag for hiring agencies," Luis Soberon, policy adviser for Texas 2036, said. "If that is the primary function of this system, it doesn't work very well."

A "default" decision was reached in January, granting Arredondo an upgrade in his discharge classification and taking the blemish away from his record. It is unclear whether his status is now "honorable" or "general," as the filings are confidential, according to Shane Linkous, general counsel at the State Office of Administrative Hearings.

"The only time you see a default decision and order is when it is in favor of the petitioner, the former officer," Soberon said.

Almost 60% of discharge upgrades occur because of a default, meaning that the agency that filed the report, the Uvalde School District, did not show up to fight the appeal.

Video testimony shows that Arredondo told investigators that he refrained from entering the school and breaching the classroom out of concern for other students.

“Once I realized that was going on, my first thought is that we need to vacate. We have him contained — and I know this is horrible, and I know it’s [what] our training tells us to do, but — we have him contained, there’s probably going to be some deceased in there, but we don’t need any more from out here,” Arredondo said.

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Uvalde police officers were slammed by the public and politicians for standing outside while children in the school made multiple calls to law enforcement pleading for their lives. Arredondo has stood by his decision in the past months, despite coming under fire for having his radio turned off during parts of the response, which contributed to communication issues.

Families of shooting survivors filed a $27 billion lawsuit in December against law enforcement over the response to the shooting. In November, parent Sandra Torres filed a federal lawsuit against local police, the school district, and the manufacturer of the gun used in the massacre.

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Tags: Uvalde School Shooting, Texas, Law Enforcement, Police, News

Original Author: Rachel Schilke

Original Location: Uvalde police chief wins appeal to upgrade discharge status on employment record