Cobb Police code of conduct:
Employees are expected to be courteous to the public and employees. In demonstrating courtesy, employees are expected to be tactful, to control their tempers, and to exercise patience and discretion. In performing their duties, employees are expected to refrain from abusive, threatening, harassing, violent, intimidating, crude, vulgar, profane or insolent language, gestures or actions. As well, employees are expected to refrain from expressing prejudice toward any person(s) or any group(s) based upon sex, race, national origin, age, religion, politics, lifestyle, or any personal characteristics.
Lawson investigative findings and responses:
- Department: "You engaged in unnecessary and unprofessional banter with Mr. Baker after the traffic citations were issued, failing to conduct yourself in a manner so as to reflect most favorably on the police department and the county."
- Lawson: "The traffic stop clearly completed … it was at this point that Mr. Baker said `Can I go?' I repeated what he said because I had no idea why he was asking."
- Department: "Your statement to Mr. Baker to go back to Fulton County and use of terminology such as "your people" or "you people" was ill-advised, improper, discourteous and resulted in an insinuation of racism that has reflected negatively not just upon you, but for the entire department and the county as a whole."
- Lawson: says he told Baker "I don't care about you people" — not "your people" — and meant by that people who give police officers "a hard time."
- Department: "Your invitation to Mr. Baker to "step out and talk to me" (given the fact that citations had already been issued) can be construed as an invitation for an altercation, especially in light of the present negative atmosphere surrounding law enforcement.
- Lawson: "This was a weird moment on the side of the road with a man who complained about being stopped then would not leave …. I asked him if he wanted to step out of the car and speak with me because I did not know what else to do. I had no intention of trying to intimidate him or challenge him."
- Department: "Your conduct after the stop, including profanity and the statement "I lose my cool every time" led to concerns regarding your past conduct, the need to conduct additional random reviews of video from prior stops, and a fitness for duty evaluation by the county's physician."
- Lawson: "This was my way of acknowledging that he had gotten the best of me. … I know policy requires us to maintain our composure and not be rude to citizens, but I believe every officer … will smart off to someone if provoked."
- Department: "Your conduct has resulted in extensive negative media coverage, reflecting unfavorably on you, the police department and the county."
- Lawson: "…It sets a bad precedent within the Cobb County Police Department that if an employee infraction gets enough media attention, the punishment will be increased to satisfy those who scream the loudest."
Cobb Board of Commissioners’ Progressive Disciplinary Policy:
Suspensions are more severe actions that should be used for the constructive improvement of employees. Suspensions should be issued when it is determined that an additional warning or reprimand is not appropriate or when as incident is too severe for a warning, but not sufficiently severe for demotion or dismissal.
Excerpt from Cobb officer Maurice Lawson’s nine-page response to discipline:
“I have been in combat defending our country as a United States Marine. Take a look at the citizens of Afghanistan we defended and protected. Are they white? Are the marines I fought beside and protected with my life all white? I was involved in my off time with the startup of the Cobb County Police Athletic League. In two or three days, I helped coach baseball to 120 children from age 4-13. The … majority were black. Most of the non-black children were Hispanic. A very small percentage were white. … I was happy to be there on my off days without being paid to help those kids. Are those the actions of a racist? Why isn’t anyone telling the media about that?”
The white Cobb County police officer involved in a traffic stop with racial overtones of a black motorist has been suspended for two weeks without pay, must take a series of training courses and will be required to have a field training officer ride with him for an unspecified period of time when he returns to duty.
The discipline for Officer Maurice Lawson was announced Friday after 4 p.m. when the department released about 500 pages of investigative notes.
Public Safety Director Sam Heaton did not return phone messages Friday and a reporter was told that no one in the police department command staff was available to answer questions.
Lawson has 10 days to appeal the disciplinary action to the Cobb County Civil Service board. His attorney, Lance LoRusso, said no decision has been made on the appeal.
Cobb Deputy Police Chief C.T. Cox said in a memo to Lawson that he arrived at the discipline after reviewing the officer's time of service, Lawson's response to the complaint, his disciplinary history, video of the incident, the county attorney's investigation, a fitness-for-duty report, the seriousness of the violation and the impact upon the department and the county. Most of those documents were released Friday.
Houser then signed off on Cox’s recommended discipline.
“Loss of emotional control, statements that can be construed as racially biased or insensitive, and unnecessary banter and invitations to step out of a vehicle that have the potential to lead to an altercation are unacceptable and damaging to the citizens involved and our community as a whole,” Houser wrote in a memo dated Friday.
Lawson pulled over Fulton County middle school teacher Brian Baker Nov. 16, for speeding and lane violations in an incident that was captured on Lawson's dash board video and another officer's body camera. The video captures Lawson telling Baker that "I don't care about your people;" asking him if he wanted to get out of his car to talk to him; and telling his fellow officers "I lose my cool every time" after Baker left.
The video also shows Baker calling a different officer “Gestapo,” and generally being uncooperative and argumentative.
Lawson, who has been on the department for 20 months, acknowledged that he violated policy by being rude to Baker, but said he was baited into the behavior by Baker’s rudeness.
“When I said `I lose my cool every time,’ I knew I was being recorded,” Lawson wrote. “This was my way of acknowledging that he had gotten the best of me. Mr. Baker set out to be rude, obnoxious, confrontational and to obstruct my investigation and that is exactly what he did. Unfortunately, I was rude back to him.”
Lawson also chaffed at the idea that his actions could be construed as racist. He wrote that there are African Americans in his family, that he risked his life as a Marine protecting citizens in Afghanistan and that he volunteers in his off hours to help mostly minority children in the Police Athletic League.
“Are those the actions of a racist?” Lawson wrote. “Why isn’t anyone telling the media about that?”
Video of the 1 a.m. traffic stop exploded in the media over the past two months, which triggered community groups to call for Lawson's termination from the department. Lawson was also connected to an incident this summer in which he followed Commissioner Lisa Cupid, which led the African American commissioner to accuse him of racial profiling.
Lawson was cleared of wrong-doing in the Cupid case.
Ben Williams, president of the Cobb chapter of the Southern Conference Leadership Coalition, called the two-week suspension “disgraceful.”
“I’ll be damned,” Williams said when told of the decision by a reporter.
Kimberly Bandoh, Baker’s attorney, had an equally strong and brief reaction.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Bandoh said. “I guess we’re going to have to get people to do a sit-in out there in Cobb County.”
LoRusso, the officer’s attorney, also was not happy with the discipline. He said the two-week suspension was “grossly disproportionate” to discipline other officers have received for rudeness complaints. LoRusso said he is awaiting a response to an open records request that will prove it, and those documents could become part of Lawson’s appeal if he chooses to fight the discipline.
“I am willing to accept discipline, but one entire paycheck is, I believe, excessive,” Lawson wrote. “Not only will it create an inappropriate hardship on my family in relation to the violation of policy, it sets a bad precedent within the … police department that if an employee infraction gets enough media attention, the punishment will be increased to satisfy those who scream the loudest.”
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