Published: July 17, 2008 10:12 am      

Court of Appeals upholds Luckritz termination

DES MOINES — The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld the termination of a former Camanche police officer.

The decision, filed Wednesday, states the judges found that while Patrick Luckritz may have had good intentions, his conduct was detrimental to the public interest and fully warranted the termination of his employment as a Camanche police officer. They also said the record established a neglect of duty, misconduct and insubordination, leading them to affirm a previous district court order.

According to court documents, Luckritz was terminated from his officer position on June 29, 2006. He appealed his termination to the city’s Civil Service Commission, which after a hearing reversed the termination and reinstated him with a 30-day suspension. It also required him to apologize to the Clinton County Attorney for certain complaints he’d made about the office. The city of Camanche appealed the commission’s decision to the district court.

The court later reversed the commission’s ruling and ordered that Luckritz be terminated from employment.

At that time Judge Gary McKenrick wrote: “He became an impediment to effective law enforcement for the citizens of Camanche. The Court concludes that termination of Luckritz’s employment with the Camanche Police Department is the appropriate sanction for Luckritz’s repeated and flagrant misconduct.”

Luckritz, a Camanche police officer since 1997, was fired by Police Chief Bob Houzenga for six stated reasons including conduct unbecoming of an officer, violation of departmental policy, neglect of duty and three counts of insubordination. The claims relate to incidents wherein Luckritz allegedly confronted First Assistant County Attorney Ross Barlow in the Clinton County Attorney’s Office in January 2006 over Barlow’s handling of a case and conducted an investigation outside the scope of his employment.