By Mindy Ragan Wood
Staff Writer
Former Okarche Police Sergeant Charles Snyder will not return to the department, he confirmed Tuesday.
Snyder was scheduled to report for work Monday as previously agreed with town officials, but he told Town Administrator Richard Raupe that he decided not to stay.
Snyder was on active military order for the last year as a U.S. Army Reservist. When he returned to report for duty by Feb. 1, he said he encountered a hostile argument with Police Chief Forrest Smith.
The dispute began with an accusation of insubordination when Snyder did not return calls and texts, even though Snyder was not obligated to respond while on active duty.
He accused the department of demoting him to third-in-command, despite federal law prohibiting such action for reservists.
Snyder was second-in-command when he reported for active military duty.
Snyder said he’s confident in his decision to leave the police department.
“He (Raupe) said, ‘are you sure?’ I said yes, that I was pretty positive. The Chief (Forrest Smith) has a different agenda. He has his two new guys he hired who are trained to do what he wants to do and then there’s me. It appears to be a non-working agenda and I want to work,” Snyder said. “They haven’t had court in four or five months from what I hear.”
Municipal Judge Dan Webber has not had to be present for court since November. Webber confirmed that traffic citations are “way down.”
He said the town had not handled more than a few cases since November. He recalled a time when citations averaged 120 a month and that was “not a lot” he said.
“We haven’t had very many citations since probably November,” Webber said. “We did not have court in December because we only had one matter and that was requested for a continuance until January.”
Webber said they will hold court this month with six cases. When asked if he believed travelers are slowing down, he said, “I drive through there (Okarche) twice a day and the concept that not as many people are speeding is unrealistic.”
Snyder said the other reason he declined to return to the job was that he did not want to work in a department where he would “always be looking behind my back.”
The officer is unsure if he will return to law enforcement or choose a different career path.
“For now, I’m going to take care of some things around the house,” he said. “If it’s meant to be, I’ll stay in law enforcement.”
Raupe and Smith did not return calls for comment about the decline in court time. It was not known if the town intends to replace Snyder.
