145 P.2d 286 | Wash. | 1944
[1] Counsel for appellant contends that, where a police officer is discharged by the chief of police upon a specific charge, as in the case at bar, that charge must be proved to warrant the civil service commission's sustaining of the order of discharge.
Counsel for appellant concedes that, in removing appellant from office, the chief of police complied with Art. 16, § 12, of the charter of the city of Seattle in filing with the civil service commission a notice in writing of the removal with the reasons therefor. The civil service commission granted appellant a full opportunity to be heard, and there was competent evidence which tended to prove the charge made by the chief of police against appellant. The charge given by the chief of police for the discharge of appellant was certainly not a frivolous one.
In State ex rel. Littau v. Seattle,
"When, in a case of removal from office or position within the classified civil service, it appears that the appointing power has filed with the civil service commission a written *19 statement of the reasons for the removal, upon charges that cannot be said to be utterly frivolous, and when it further appears that the commission has awarded the party charged a full opportunity to be heard, and that competent evidence has been produced tending, in some measure at least, to prove the charges made, the court may not inquire into the weight or sufficiency of the evidence. Its power is confined to the inquiry whether the officers entrusted with the authority to effect removals and discharges have acted within the prescribed rules."
There was a strict compliance with the procedure prescribed by the city charter for removal from office within the classified civil service, and there is nothing from which it can fairly be contended that the action of the civil authorities was arbitrary or capricious.
The judgment is affirmed.
SIMPSON, C.J., ROBINSON, GRADY, and MALLERY, JJ., concur.