Airport suspends police chief
Spokane International Airport’s police chief has been suspended without pay for a week for misusing his airport-issued computer to distribute a sexually explicit e-mail.
Airport Police Chief Peter Troyer inappropriately distributed a “vulgar, offensive” attachment on an incoming Nov. 4 e-mail, according to the airport’s new director, Neal Sealock.
In an interview Friday following a news release, Sealock said the airport police chief will be suspended without pay from Monday to Friday for violating the airport’s computer usage policy, which explicitly forbids transmission of obscene material. He’ll lose about $1,450 from his $75,000 annual salary.
“Whether intentionally or by mistake, you disbursed vulgar, offensive and sexually explicit material. … The expectation is that you will conduct yourself in a professional manner befitting your position as Police Chief,” says Sealock’s Jan. 5 memo to Troyer announcing the suspension.
“Pete is very remorseful about this. But our policy is very explicit,” said Sealock, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general who became airport director in early December.
Troyer could not be reached for comment Friday on his temporary suspension. A receptionist in the airport police office said he was out of town until Jan. 16.
In a closed-door session on Nov. 9, the airport board directed its lawyer, Jerry Neal, to hire an independent investigator with computer forensic expertise to look into the allegations against Troyer. Neal was asked to direct the investigation to keep it at “arm’s length” from the board, said airport board Chairman David Brukardt, an executive with Sterling Savings Bank.
Richard Macken of Snohomish and Ed Burke of Hayden, Idaho, conducted the forensic investigation, which Sealock said cost “thousands of dollars.”
Troyer was placed on paid administrative leave from Dec. 23 to Dec. 30 while the investigation proceeded.
The Spokesman-Review reported in November that the focus of the airport investigation was a pornographic video sent to some Spokane airport employees from Troyer’s e-mail account.
Troyer told the newspaper he received the e-mail from a friend, opened it the morning of Nov. 4, and then closed and deleted it when he realized it was inappropriate. But soon after, Troyer said, he got an e-mail from the airport’s dispatch supervisor that said the message had been sent to eight airport e-mail addresses, including one general account accessed by multiple people.
Troyer said he asked the people who received the video to delete it. He also apologized for three or four off-color jokes he said he had previously forwarded to an employee who sent them on to other staff members. He said the messages may have offended some people.
“It was extremely bad judgment,” Troyer said in the November newspaper interview.
Sealock was hired in October to replace airport CEO John Morrison, who announced his resignation in May, citing his wife’s poor health. Morrison is being paid $115,000 to consult for the airport through the end of 2006.