Ville Platte Civil Service Board reinstates VPPD officer Lamke

The Ville Platte Civil Service Board chose to reinstate Zachary Lamke as an officer at the Ville Platte Police Department during an appeal hearing on Wednesday.
Lamke requested a hearing with the Civil Service Board after being terminated from the VPPD on March 13, 2017 without a clear understanding of why.
During the hearing, Lamke said, “From what I was told by Chief Neal Lartigue, I was being terminated because I had a statement written against me accusing me of several things that he didn’t go into much detail about.” This according to Lamke is against the law.
The former officer then read from Louisiana Revised Statute 40:2531 subsection C, which requires an investigation to begin within 14 days of a complaint being made if the matter is going to be further looked into or if disciplinary action could result from the complaint. The same statute also states that an “investigation shall be considered complete upon notice to the police employee or law enforcement officer under investigation.”
According to Lamke, he was never told that an investigation was performed.
When Lartigue addressed the board, he acknowledged that a complaint was made, but an investigation was not done.
However, the chief did deny Lamke’s accusation that he had not informed the former officer of why he was being terminated.
According to Lartigue, Lamke was terminated after he was “dismissed from the Academy for not handling his weapon properly,” and for a “complaint that was filed by another cadet that was at the Academy” with Lamke. This was the second time Lamke was dismissed from an Academy.
Even if his actions warranted his termination, the board was forced to review if the proper procedure was followed when the termination happened.
Board member Chris Soileau said, “The Chief acknowledged that some things weren’t done that needed to be done. This is a procedural issue, and based on the facts the proper procedure was not followed in the termination.”
Following Soileau’s comments, the board unanimously approved the reinstatement of Lamke with the VPPD.