EPPING OFFICER SUSPENDED, ALLEGES HARASSMENT

EPPING - A local police officer who claims he has been targeted
because of his involvement with a group that wants to legalize drugs
has been suspended from the force.

Officer Bradley Jardis said he was told Monday that he was being
suspended with pay pending an investigation.

Police Chief Gregory Dodge would not comment on the suspension, but
Jardis said he believes it resulted from his decision to go public
with disciplinary action taken against him in July and claims that he
has been ridiculed by certain Epping police personnel because he's a
member of an international organization called Law Enforcement
Against Prohibition.

An outspoken critic of current drug laws, Jardis was the subject of
an internal police investigation in July that resulted from a
disagreement between him and then-police Sgt. Sean Gallagher. That
investigation led to a recommendation that Jardis be suspended for six days.

Jardis, who was placed on sick leave in early August because of
anxiety, is appealing the suspension ordered in July and has
requested that his upcoming appeal before selectmen be held in
public. That suspension was stayed pending the appeal.

According to a letter from the town's attorney, Philip Petis, the
police chief adamantly disagrees that Jardis' involvement with LEAP
has anything to do with the disciplinary action.

The chief has also said in the past that he has no problem with
Jardis' participation in LEAP as long as it's done when he's off duty.

Still, Jardis claims trouble began brewing in February when he was
featured in a story in the New Hampshire Sunday News about his
involvement with LEAP.

Three days after the story ran, Jardis wrote a letter to Lt. Michael
Wallace asking that he be "protected from unlawful harassment" by
Gallagher, who was then his supervisor. He claimed that on the day
after the article came out, Gallagher referred to him as a "dark rain
cloud over this place." In response to the complaint, Jardis said
Wallace removed him from Gallagher's supervision.

Gallagher declined to comment on the accusations this week.

The internal probe in July followed a dispute between Jardis and
Gallagher over the way Jardis was investigating a case. When
Gallagher said he was removing him from the case, Jardis threatened
to tell the media about Gallagher's actions. Jardis said Gallagher
ordered him not to talk to the media, which Jardis told him was an
illegal order.

Lt. Wallace investigated the incident and issued a report on July 28.
Wallace determined that Jardis was insubordinate and "acted
inappropriately when Gallagher issued an illegal order and threatened
him that he would go to the media even if he had no intentions."

Wallace concluded that Jardis violated standard operating procedures
and policies. He also found that Jardis violated policy by sending an
e-mail to others in the department raising questions about the way he
was being treated. Jardis wrote the e-mail outlining his concerns in
an effort to arrange a meeting of the police union.

Jardis was particularly concerned because he claimed that Detective
Rich Cote, the police union president, had made allegations that he
may have violated the department's sick time policy and then was
present as his union representative when Jardis was questioned during
a meeting with Lt. Wallace.

Wallace took issue when Jardis suggested in the e-mail that Cote had
"ratted" on him about the allegations and that he "disbelieves" Wallace.

"Both comments are a course of conduct I consider to be detrimental
to Detective Cote, the Epping Police Department and I," Wallace wrote
in his report.

Wallace has refused to comment on the situation because it's an
ongoing personnel matter.

The sick time investigation was dropped when Wallace learned that no
violation had occurred.