Dormont Sergeant Ross Suspended

UPDATED WITH COMMENT FROM MAYOR, COUNCILMAN, BACKGROUND:

Phil Ross, who was from Dormont's police chief to sergeant in March, was suspended Tuesday for directing officers to disable GPS units installed in patrol cars earlier this year.

Ross said Borough Manager Gino Rizza handed him a letter stating he was being placed on administrative leave with pay pending an investigation into the GPS incident. The letter did not say how long the suspension is for.

Ross said he ordered the units be disconnected after being directed to by Mayor Thomas Lloyd.

Ross said he's been in contact with his attorney, but declined further comment.

Lloyd and others have suggested the GPS units were installed in the five cars so Rizza could spy on police.

“They were installed for safety purposes and they were not used that way,” Lloyd said Tuesday. “The way I look at it is, (management has) abused the use of them.”

Rizza has denied using the units to spy on police.

Lloyd said as mayoy he is in charge of the police department and that the order to disconnect the units is within his powers.

Rizza and council maintain that the police ultimately answer to them because they set policy. The struggle over who has authority over the police department has been ongoing.

“They’re certainly not in charge of a lot of things they think they are,” Lloyd said of council and management.

“I just believe they’ve gotten some bad advice,” Lloyd said. “I don’t know how it’s ever going to get resolved. But it’s got to because we’ve had an excellent department for years and years and years. And they’ve done everything they can to destroy (police) morale.”

But Councilman Drew Lehman said Lloyd has been giving bad guidance and said ordering the GPS units to be disabled wasn’t the mayor’s call to make.

He also denied the units were being used to spy, but said, “The patrols certainly did pick up when those GPS units were installed.”

“The last thing I want to do is demote or suspend any officer or any employee,” he said. “But there are rules and procedures in place.”

Some employees, he said, have an agenda “and that agenda is getting rid of any person would dare tell them what to do.”

In a statement, the borough said Ross’ suspension is not related to last weeks’ suspension of Sgt. James Burke.

Burke was placed on indefinite paid administrative leave on Thursday after citing Rizza for because Rizza entered the police department through a door the police maintain is only for police access. Rizza contends he is entitled to use the door.