152 Iowa 508 | Iowa | 1911
The plaintiff was a captain of police in the city of Dubuque, and was suspended from service on said force by the chief of police. He appealed from the action of the chief to the board of police and fire commissioners, and upon a hearing the said board ordered that he be suspended for thirty days for misconduct unbecoming an officer, and at the end of thirty days that he report for duty as night captain. When his period of suspension under this order had expired, the plaintiff presented himself to the chief of police and asked to be reinstated to his former position as captain of police. The chief refused to reinstate him as captain of police, but notified him that he might report for duty as police patrol. This the plaintiff refused to accept, and brought this action to compel the chief of police to reinstate him as a captain. The demurrer raised the question of power between the chief of police and the board of police and fire commissioners, and the only question before us is whether said board had the power, under title 5, chapter 2-a, of the 1907 Supplement to the Code, to order the plaintiff’s reinstatement as captain. There is no serious disagreement between counsel as to general rules of law governing the appointment to and removal from office.
This section clearly says that both forces shall be recruited from the names that have been certified by the board as qualified for the position, but it does not attempt to say that any person on the list shall be given a particular place. On the contrary, it is to be implied therefrom that such matter is to be left to the sound discretion of the person having the appointing power. It is to be noticed that this section does not give the board the power to appoint, but only the power to furnish a list of ten names
All police officers, except the chief, are removable absolutely by the board, under said section, for cause, and the chief is therein given the power to suspend or dis
Considering the whole tenor of the statute, we are inclined to the view that the Legislature intended no more than to require a continuance of employment on the force, and still left the chief of police free to determine what branch of the police service should be performed by the reinstated, person. It is clear that, in the first instance, no one is given power to dictate to the chief who shall fill a certain position on the force; nor is there, in our judgment, any restriction of his right to make such changes in position as shall appear to be for the good of the service and for the maintenance of proper discipline. If the chief may place his men without restriction or control in the first instance, and may thereafter shift them as occasion may seem to require, we do not believe that the Legislature intended to take the power away from him, and give the board power to place a discharged or suspended man in a particular position, but intended only