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| Rice University Office David Sedmak - Photo courtesy LinkedIn |
That officer has been identified as David Sedmak.
It was back on May 7th when two Houston police officers found themselves in a shootout with a suspect at the downtown Greyhound bus station.
After one of the HPD cops was shot another officer got on the police radio and called for back up.
Sources tell the Insite Rice University police officer David Sedmak was on duty near the school and decided to respond and drove to the scene downtown.
We now know two Houston cops were shot but survived. The gunman, according to the police department, took his own life.
So what happened to officer Sedmak after the incident that lead every newscast in town? He was fired by the Rice University Police Department.
Members of the Houston Police Officers' Union are outraged at Rice's action. Ray Hunt is the vice president of the police officers' union. He says, "if Rice officers are in trouble we'll respond with back up and I'd expect their officers to do the same."
Hunt says what officer Sedmak did is an example of what Mayor Annise Parker called for when she ran for office back in 2009. It was during the campaign when Parker indicated she wanted law enforcement officers in the Houston area to work together because of a shortage of HPD officers.
Some say it appears Rice may not be interested in that citywide collaboration when it comes to officers backing up their brothers in blue.
The school issued this statement to the Insite:
"As a matter of policy, Rice University does not comment on personnel matters. However, out of respect for the Houston Police Department, we want to clarify that David Sedmak was terminated from the Rice University Police Department for dereliction of duty. Sedmak left his post when only two other officers were on duty and failed to notify his supervisor of his whereabouts for nearly an hour, which could have endangered the safety of our students and campus."
UPDATE: Rice spokesman B.J. Almond sent the Insite an email insisting Officer Sedmak was fired for leaving his post and not assisting HPD cops.
Almond also says the record reflects there is cooperation between the Rice Police Department and HPD.
When I read this article I thought two things: this is appalling and what a total lack of support by his supervisor and his administration! Being a police officer myself I know part of an officer’s job is backing up and assisting any officers in need; especially in these set of circumstances. Plus the reasoning given by the Rice University spokesman “the officer was fired for leaving his post not for assisting the HPD officers” is a total sham. If you really look at it, he left his post in order to assist officers who were requesting assistance due to a shoot-out situation. Now I can understand an administrative punishment was warranted if he did not notify his supervisor of the event but I believe by no means should that punishment have been termination. This is another instance of administration saying one thing "help your surrounding agencies" and doing something different "you’re fired for leaving your post." It’s disgraceful! Hopefully the City of Houston and the Houston Police Officers Union will do more to show support for this Officer. I also feel it is very sad this story was never covered by the television news which is another sign of lack of support for officers who daily put their lives on the line for the agencies and city they strive to protect.
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ReplyDeleteThis is from an Anonymous post who originally posted under someone's name - so here goes:
ReplyDeleteThis is sad that this happen. This department has kept their "Police officers" on a short chain and they don't know what or what not to do because of the consequences they have to face if they do their job. This isn't the only person this year that has been wrongfully fired from Rice Police Department. If the supervisors would do their jobs besides the politics of this small department, it might be run better and the officers might know how to work at their job better, without worrying if their job is on the line every time they reacted to a call. How would you like to go to a job and not know if what you do that day will cause you to lose your job? Being an officer is already stressful enough without worrying to look over your shoulder every moment to see who is watching you and will try to get you into trouble. This department has some sergeants that are willing to do anything to cause the officers to lose their jobs because they don't like the officers. This sergeant makes the everyday job uncomfortable and stressful to make the slit second decisions that you got to make as an officer. This department needs to work on their communication, and what they expect from the people that work there, and cut out of the politic b.s. and get to the point.
The actions of Rice Police Departments Administration, blunty shows, that politics are way more important than Officers Safety. The next time an incident like this occurs someone could possibly loose their life, because responding officers have the shadow of them loosing their jobs hanging over their heads. Officers should be able to perform their duties effectively without adminstrators jumping down there throats about how their actions could've been misconstrued by the media or politics.
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