Labor & Employment – Public Employees – Administrative – Certification – Law Enforcement

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Burgess v. North Carolina Criminal Justice Education & Training Standards Commission (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-16-0867, 17 pp.) (Robert N Hunter Jr., J.) Appealed from Wake County Superior Court. (Shannon R. Joseph, J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Click here for the full-text opinion.

Holding: Where plaintiff listed a 1976 incident that led to his arrest and detention on his application with the Department of Correction, he was clearly aware of the 1976 incident two weeks later when he applied for a position with the Louisburg College Police Department. Since plaintiff had learned at basic law enforcement training that it was important to make sure all applications with defendant were complete and consistent, plaintiff made a material misrepresentation by omission when he provided an incomplete statement on his campus police application.

We affirm the superior court’s judgment upholding defendant’s final agency decision to deny plaintiff’s criminal justice officer certification for at least five years.

Where this action was filed under G.S. Ch. 150B Article 3A, it is governed by Article 3A, which does not require defendant to provide reasoning for its rejection of the recommendations of administrative law judges.

Pursuant to G.S. § 17C-6(a)(3), defendant was within its authority to reject the ALJs’ recommendations and instead deny plaintiff’s criminal justice officer certification for five years. Defendant has exclusive authority to certify law enforcement officers and to determine their period of sanction. Additionally, pursuant to 12 N.C.A.C. 09A.0204(b)(6) and 09A.0205(b)(4), defendant was within its authority to impose the five-year sanction on plaintiff.