The City of Albany predicts a police officer who was fired because a student at Albany High School found drugs in his locker the morning after law enforcement conducted a police dog training exercise in the building will appeal termination to City Council soon.
Mayor Rodney Alexander believes this appeal could happen has early as the beginning of next week. He says Officer Jason Price, who was Albany’s Chief of Police and lone police officer, is receiveing legal council from the Combine Law Enforcement Association of Texas (CLEAT), but Officer Price hasn’t officially filed for an appeal yet, so an exact date has not been set.
Price released the following statement to relay his understanding of what happened the night that led to what he claims was his ‘wrongful termination’:
“On January 25, I was contacted by a Shackelford County Sheriff office Sgt. who advised me that he needed to do some K9 training and asked if I could get him into the Albany ISD campus. I contacted Albany ISD principle and obtained a key for the high school campus. I met with the SCSO Sgt., 2 Cisco PD officers, and the high school principal who was there at the time I arrived at the AISD campus. The principal was advised by the SCSO Sgt. that he would be sure to collect all the hides at the end of the training and thanked him for allowing him to do his training at that campus, at this time the principal left the campus. The Sgt. advised me that he needed to access several classrooms to do his training. I opened several classrooms where he explained to the Cisco officers that he would be doing a certification style hide for the officers to practice before they went to certify a K9. The SCSO Sgt. placed several hides in different rooms that I had previously unlocked for him. Upon his completion of the training, I was advised by the SCSO Sgt. that he was finished and he had collected all his hides. I was reassured by the SCSO Sgt. as I asked to confirm that he had all the hides collected. After being reassured I then re-secured all the classrooms and locked down the campus. I was wrongfully terminated on Wednesday, January 27, for the training exercise on the 25th. I feel this to be wrongful since the Albany Police Department doesn’t have a K9 program and doesn’t have any K9 narcotics hide kits to use as hides, also the Albany Police Dept. has never obtained such a kit. I was wrongfully terminated for conducting and participating in the training exercise conducted by the SCSO Sgt. The only participation that I had in the exercise was to lock and unlock doors for the SCSO Sgt. at his request. I was not aware of the locations of the hides and I was not responsible for the narcotics. I am currently appealing the decision made by the city manager to fire me to the city council.”
Mayor Alexander confirmed Price’s termination last week, saying there should have been some sort of inventory system in place.
Albany ISD Superintendent Shane Fields says the student opened his locker when he arrived at school last week and found a container inside.The student took this container to the principal who confirmed it was filled with marijuana – the packaging was consistent with several “finds” that were hidden around the school by authorities.
The Albany Police Department and Shackelford County Sheriff’s Office called the Superintendent the night of the exercise and asked if they could use the school to train a Cisco Deputy and his K9 partner to sniff drugs.
They placed the “finds” all around campus, including the one that the student recovered in his locker.
Albany ISD is no longer going to participate in these training exercises in light of this event, and they sat down with the City Manager filed a formal complaint with the City of Albany.
The City Manager conducted an investigation after this complaint was filed and determined terminating the officer was the best course of action.
(Information from BigCountryHomepage.com)