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Hubbert v. City of Pittsburg, and the Definition of a Police Officer's Duties

In Hubbert v. City of Pittsburg, a split panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a police officer who speaks to FBI agents about police misconduct, is doing so pursuant to his official duties as a police officer.  In reaching its conclusion, the panel cited California law:Though Huppert argues that he was repeatedly informed by the FBI that his investigatory work was outside his duties as a police officer, this is not enough to overcome California?s jurisprudence defining such duties. It is clear that in California a police officer?s official duties include investigating corruption, so as to ?prevent[ ] the commission ofcrime, . . . [and] assist[ ]in its detection.? Christal, 92 P.2d at 419. While we do not know the contents of any speech that Huppert made, we do know that such conversations with the FBI would have been to ?disclos[e] all information known to [Huppert]? regarding the alleged acts of corruption within the PPD...continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime & Federalism on July 21, 2009 (boomark / email).