Pleasureville without police chief again

By Jonna Spelbring Priester

General Manager

The City of Pleasureville finds itself without a police chief after Patrick Stucker resigned his position March 3.

The resignation came almost two months after Stucker was placed on paid leave during the Pleasureville City Commission's January meeting. At that time, Commissioner Pam Whitaker made a motion that Stucker be suspended with pay for 60 days, or until a hearing could be held regarding allegations that if true would bring the city into disrepute, she said at the time.

According to the employment contract in Stucker's personnel file, should his employment end within two years of his hire date he would have to pay back a portion of the funds spent to train him. Pleasureville hired Stucker as its police chief in July 2006, and he spent the first few weeks of his employment at the police academy in Richmond. Stucker confirmed Monday night that that condition had been waived.

Also in Stucker's personnel file is a quarterly progress report for Stucker from the Department of Criminal Justice Training. In it, Stucker either met or exceeded expectations in 17 of 22 categories. The remaining five were "not observed."

In his resgination, Stucker said he was leaving simply to pursue other employment opportunities.

By phone Monday, the 32-year old said he hoped to find employment as a police officer in a larger department. "I appreciate the opportunity to work for Pleasureville," he said. "I've met some very good people in Pleasureville and appreciate the opportunity to start my career in law enforcement."

Stucker said he felt his biggest accomplishment was one of his first - completing the Police Academy. He said he also was proud of work he did on a case involving a theft from the Pleasureville Post Office, in which community members brought information to him.

"The community sees more than I can see, and the community felt safe enough to come to me to tell me what they'd seen and what went on," he said. "I felt pretty proud of what I was doing."

Stucker's resignation leaves the city without its own law enforcement. Commission member Vic Harrod, who is related to Stucker, said he wasn't sure the city would have the money to hire another officer. He said the city had four police officers in the last six to eight years.

According to Stucker's file, his hourly pay was $11.83, for a minimum of $24,606 annually.

Messages left for Pleasureville Mayor Rodney Young and Whitaker, who also serves as the commission's police commissioner, were not returned.

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