Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
PALOUSE – Palouse police Chief Jerry Neuman was fired after an investigation claims he broke the law and city policy multiple times.
Clear Risk Solutions, a government insurance and risk management company, investigated Neuman on behalf of the city and issued a 39 page report concluding with seven allegations of misconduct.
Neuman is accused of:
• Falsely claiming overtime for police callouts he did not conduct
• Incorrectly issuing concealed pistol licenses
• Not completing reports for all law enforcement calls he worked
• Failing to responded to a 9-1-1 call about a vehicle collision
• Failing to follow city policy on employee time off requests
• Incorrectly disciplining an officer
• Damaging an officer’s property by riding ATV in a yard
The investigation followed an annual employee review where Neuman received an “unsatisfactory” rating. He went on medical leave on July 5, 2021. He was terminated Feb. 8 after a unanimous vote of the city council.
Palouse Officer Joel Anderson was interviewed during the investigation since several allegations stem from conflicts between him and his boss, Nueman. He was one of twelve witnesses. The investigators reviewed hundreds of documents.
Nueman is accused of falsely claiming overtime for police call outs he did not conduct. Clear Risk Solutions investigators listed six call outs in 2019 he did not physically respond to, one in 2020, and two in 2021.
“I do not believe Chief Neumann met the requirements to receive callout pay for the claims listed above. If | had included all the callouts where Chief Neumann did not write a report there would have been nine callouts in 2019, eight callouts in 2020, and five callouts in 2021 where Chief Neumann submitted for callout pay but did not follow department policy,” wrote investigator Dave Helvey.
Nueman allegedly issued concealed pistol licenses incorrectly to people living outside of his jurisdiction and failed to follow the law regarding permitting criteria for the licenses.
The chief issued 96 concealed pistol licenses in 2019-2021. He approved 24 in 2019, 53 in 2020, and 19 in 2021. Only 67 were to Palouse residents.
“Of these ninety-six concealed pistol licenses, none were issued in compliance with all of the requirements of RCW 9.41.070,” wrote Helvey. “Many of the applications appeared incomplete.”
He reportedly submitted fingerprints of 40 people to the Washington State Patrol and 18 names to Washington State Health Care Authority, both components of obtaining a license.
During a second interview, Neuman allegedly became upset about being questioned about the licenses.
“He told me |was harassing him and bow breaking him over bulls**t. Chief Neuman told me | was making his head hurt. He told me my voice was garbage to him and that | was hurting him. He said | would rather see him dead. Chief Neumann said it was petty, ridiculous, and if |was comfortable with what | was doing, shame on me. He told me | had triggered him,” wrote Helvey.
Nueman was offered a break but chose to continue discussing concealed pistol licenses to “get it over with.”
Neuman is accused of not completing reports for all law enforcement calls he worked. Investigators claim there were many cases where Neuman’s reports were filed more than 14 days after the incident in 2019-2021.
The calls for service logs reportedly showed Neuman was not completing entries sufficient enough to determine if reports were written as required by city policy. In 2019, 58 out of 285 calls Nueman handled had the proper information. In 2020, 35 out of 204 calls had written information, and in 2020, 36 out of 82 had the information required.
“The evidence clearly shows Chief Neumann does not write reports for the majority of incidents he is assigned to, including death investigations, Adult Protective Services related incidents, and child abuse related incidents,” stated Helvey.
Clear Risk Solutions claim Neuman failed to respond to a 9-1-1 call about a pickup colliding with a garage then leaving the scene on April 10, 2021. He told Helvey he spent 20 minutes on the phone and it met the criteria for him to be paid two hours of salary.
He spoke to the owner of the garage and asked emergency dispatch to turn the call over to Anderson. He asked they list it as a non-injury accident rather than a hit-and-run, according to Helvey. Nueman said the driver later contacted and traded insurance information with the garage owner.
“Officer Anderson said he is required to physically respond to a call and write a report to qualify for callout pay,” wrote Helvey.
Neuman is accused of failing to follow city policy on employee time off requests.
Anderson request time off as sick leave to take his daughter to s a doctor’s appointment, which is allowed by city policy.
Neuman asked him to provide a doctor’s note and asked about the time of her appointment by text messaging.
Clear Rick Solutions viewed this as violations of the city policy.
The investigation included a disagreement about Neuman not working weekends. He scheduled two officers to cover weekends and reportedly said he wouldn’t work them.. Mayor Chris Cook did not like this decision.
Nueman is accused of incorrectly disciplining Anderson by writing a warning letter regarding patrolling outside Palouse city limits on March 26, 2021. It was a warning that deciding to patrol outside of the city was Conduct Unbecoming, which includes behavior that impedes the police from fulfilling their duties, reduces public confidence, adversely impacts department efficiency, etc.
A letter is the fifth step in discipline for such behavior.
Anderson told Helvey he felt a text exchange that day was a verbal warning and that the alleged letter was inappropriate.
Anderson said he was trained by a Palouse officer to drive roads outside of the city to look for stranded Palouse residents. Neuman said he saw Anderson outside of Palouse driving from Idaho and unsuccessfully called Anderson. The text messages followed. A screen capture of Anderson’s phone was included in the report.
Nueman asked where he was going and Anderson responded, “Just checking outer perimeter.”
Neuman texted back, “you (are) going to Moscow. I’d rather you put miles on in the city.”
Anderson answered, “Just to state line every once in a while looking for any disabled (vehicles) along the way that might be residents (with) no service in that area.”
The chief sent, “Stay in the city patrol city streets.”
“Ok,” replied Anderson.
“Thanks” replied Neuman.
Investigators could not find the letter.
“Officer Anderson’s file contains no documentation related to any coaching, counseling, or discipline,” wrote Helvey. “Chief Neuman’s assertions to me do not appear to have been honest.”
The issue came a month after Anderson claims Neuman damaged four plants on his property.
Nueman is accused of damaging Anderson’s property by riding an ATV in Anderson’s yard, over an area of “zerosacape” on Feb. 17, 2021.
Zeroscape is the process of gardening by hand using organic techniques to decorate an area with gravel and native plants.
Anderson’s wife was on the phone with her husband describing how Neuman rode down a hill at a corner of their property, stopped then down a smaller hill before exiting by the couple’s driveway, according to the report.
Neuman called Anderson and told him he lost control of the ATV and couldn’t get back up the big hill due to the snow. Anderson responded by voicing concern for the septic lids and landscaping. Anderson told Clear Rick Solutions he ”observed four plants driven over and both septic lids driven over.”
“I was able to determine there was no damage to either green plastic lids and some small damage to the rubber portion below one plastic lid,” Anderson added.
The estimated cost of damage was $107 for the plants.
“My actions were not malice and no law was broken. In fact, this is a civil matter that was (handled) by me within minutes of the incident,” Neuman told Helvey. “I talked to (Anderson) and explained what happened.”
Nueman was hired as the Palouse police chief in 2005.
Bill Stevenson is the former editor of the Whitman County Gazette, Colfax Daily Bulletin and Franklin Connection. He has nearly 30 years of journalism experience covering news in Eastern Washington.
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