Police mystery: What do commission cards do?

A new Louisiana attorney general’s opinion, requested last year by Patterson Mayor Rodney Grogan, says the mayor must issue and sign commission cards for city police officers.
But Grogan says he’s never signed commission cards since taking office in January 2011.
It’s unclear what impact, if any, the lack of a mayoral signature on an officer’s commission card has on the officer’s status.
Grogan asked for the attorney general’s opinion to find out whether Patterson police officers may have not been legally authorized to perform their duties because he didn’t sign the cards.
That’s not a concern for Patterson Police Chief Patrick LaSalle, who said the commission cards are only for identification purposes and have “nothing to do with police powers.” The cards are renewed annually, he said.
Patterson City Attorney Russel Cremaldi said his opinion is that if a person goes on the payroll as a police officer and is paid as an officer, that’s the same as the mayor accepting and recognizing that person as a police officer.
In a Sept. 15, 2015, letter to the state Attorney General’s Office, Grogan asked several questions pertaining to the authority of the police chief and mayor in Patterson, including the issuance of police commission cards.
Grogan received answers to the questions in a letter dated Sept. 1 and signed by Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Wale. Attorney General’s Office spokeswoman Ruth Wisher provided both Grogan’s letter and the attorney general’s opinion to The Daily Review.
Wale said in the opinion that a “police commission card with the Police Chief’s signature does not have any legal effect because the Mayor has the authority to issue and terminate police commissions.”
LaSalle said he signs all police commission cards. LaSalle also had police department personnel request that Grogan sign the cards, but Grogan refused to give his signature for the commission cards, LaSalle said.
Grogan said he was asked twice by police department personnel to sign his name “on a piece of paper,” and chose not to sign his name because “if I give you a copy of my signature, you can put my signature on anything.”
Wale stated that the mayor has the authority to issue and terminate police commissions as CEO of the city. That’s consistent with the mayor’s authority to “appoint, suspend, or remove all city government employees” under Patterson’s Home Rule Charter, Wale said.
Wale cited a previous opinion saying the police commission cards aren’t contracts but “are valid and legally recognized as evidencing that individual’s status as a police officer.”
The mayor has the authority to issue and terminate police commission cards, but once issued, the commission cards are under the supervision of the police chief until the mayor terminates the card holder’s commission, Wale stated.
Wale said the police chief does have control over the day-to-day supervision of the city’s police officers, though “this authority may be subject to specific directives” the city council has adopted.
Wale said the mayor has ultimate authority to fire a police officer, and the mayor may decline the police chief’s recommendation to dismiss police officers.
Patterson’s charter gives the mayor authority to “grant limited special police powers,” but anyone acting under those limited powers is subject to the police chief’s supervision, Wale stated.
Grogan decided to request the opinion from the Attorney General’s Office after Grogan said LaSalle wanted to fire then-Patterson Police Officer Craig Verdine. Grogan said that LaSalle had requested Verdine be fired, but Grogan didn’t want to fire Verdine because Verdine had recently gone through a personal tragedy.
LaSalle said the action he was trying to take “was prior to the tragedy.”
Verdine now serves as a security guard at City Hall and not as a police officer, Grogan said. Verdine lost his police officer commission because Grogan didn’t know at the time he had authority to issue police commissions, Grogan said.
When asked whether the state attorney general was investigating the city of Patterson in regard to the matters addressed in the opinion, Wisher said in an email that “we cannot comment as to if we are or are not investigating.”