• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
MENUMENU
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • FlaglerLive Board of Directors
    • Comment Policy
    • Mission Statement
    • Our Values
    • Privacy Policy
  • Live Calendar
  • Submit Obituary
  • Submit an Event
  • Support FlaglerLive
  • Advertise on FlaglerLive (386) 503-3808
  • Search Results

FlaglerLive

No Bull, no Fluff, No Smudges

MENUMENU
  • Flagler
    • Flagler County Commission
    • Beverly Beach
    • Economic Development Council
    • Flagler History
    • Mondex/Daytona North
    • The Hammock
    • Tourist Development Council
  • Palm Coast
    • Palm Coast City Council
    • Palm Coast Crime
  • Bunnell
    • Bunnell City Commission
    • Bunnell Crime
  • Flagler Beach
    • Flagler Beach City Commission
    • Flagler Beach Crime
  • Cops/Courts
    • Circuit & County Court
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • Federal Courts
    • Flagler 911
    • Fire House
    • Flagler County Sheriff
    • Flagler Jail Bookings
    • Traffic Accidents
  • Rights & Liberties
    • Fourth Amendment
    • First Amendment
    • Privacy
    • Second Amendment
    • Seventh Amendment
    • Sixth Amendment
    • Sunshine Law
    • Third Amendment
    • Religion & Beliefs
    • Human Rights
    • Immigration
    • Labor Rights
    • 14th Amendment
    • Civil Rights
  • Schools
    • Adult Education
    • Belle Terre Elementary
    • Buddy Taylor Middle
    • Bunnell Elementary
    • Charter Schools
    • Daytona State College
    • Flagler County School Board
    • Flagler Palm Coast High School
    • Higher Education
    • Imagine School
    • Indian Trails Middle
    • Matanzas High School
    • Old Kings Elementary
    • Rymfire Elementary
    • Stetson University
    • Wadsworth Elementary
    • University of Florida/Florida State
  • Economy
    • Jobs & Unemployment
    • Business & Economy
    • Development & Sprawl
    • Leisure & Tourism
    • Local Business
    • Local Media
    • Real Estate & Development
    • Taxes
  • Commentary
    • The Conversation
    • Pierre Tristam
    • Diane Roberts
    • Guest Columns
    • Byblos
    • Editor's Blog
  • Culture
    • African American Cultural Society
    • Arts in Palm Coast & Flagler
    • Books
    • City Repertory Theatre
    • Flagler Auditorium
    • Flagler Playhouse
    • Flagler Youth Orchestra
    • Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
    • Palm Coast Arts Foundation
    • Special Events
  • Elections 2024
    • Amendments and Referendums
    • Presidential Election
    • Campaign Finance
    • City Elections
    • Congressional
    • Constitutionals
    • Courts
    • Governor
    • Polls
    • Voting Rights
  • Florida
    • Federal Politics
    • Florida History
    • Florida Legislature
    • Florida Legislature
    • Ron DeSantis
  • Health & Society
    • Flagler County Health Department
    • Ask the Doctor Column
    • Health Care
    • Health Care Business
    • Covid-19
    • Children and Families
    • Medicaid and Medicare
    • Mental Health
    • Poverty
    • Violence
  • All Else
    • Daily Briefing
    • Americana
    • Obituaries
    • News Briefs
    • Weather and Climate
    • Wildlife

Police Badge More Than “Just a Trinket Or Souvenir”: Sheriff and Bunnell Deny Ex-Cop

April 13, 2015 | FlaglerLive | 2 Comments

David Barbee's request for his gun and police ID again goes before the Bunnell City Commission this evening. (Scott Davidson)
David Barbee’s request for his gun and police ID again goes before the Bunnell City Commission this evening. (Scott Davidson)

Update: The Bunnell City Commission Monday evening (April 13) voted unanimously to deny David Barbee’s request for an ID card, a weapon and a badge. Commissioner Elbert Tucker made the motion. It was seconded by Commissioner Bill Baxley and passed 5-0.

David Barbee was a police officer with the Bunnell Police Department for 20 months until June 2011, and for several years with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office before that. He resigned from the sheriff’s office  after 10 years’ service in 2008, within days of the completion of an internal affairs investigation that found him to have falsified training records in a class he was teaching off duty, calling his behavior “conduct unbecoming.”

In 2011, he was injured, he says, “while chasing known drug dealers,” required a knee replacement and surgeries as a result to injuries to his shoulder, back and knee. (In formal documentation seeking out compensation for his termination after the incident, Barbee described the matter as “an accident arising out of and in the course of my employment.”)


Barbee, 42, went on disability then left the department, and last November was awarded total medical disability. He lives in Palm Coast.

Barbee and the city have not had a friendly time of it. He was actually “separated”–or fired–from his job on June 28, 2011. He alleges that it was wrongful termination. He filed suit, then agreed to a settlement in 2013 worth $40,000. The following year he got another settlement through a worker’s compensation claim. That one was worth $150,000. In both settlements, Barbee agreed to hold the city harmless. “I will not be able to come back and seek additional benefits,” he agreed in the settlement and release. “I understand that regardless of what may happen to me in the future, this settlement is final and this release cannot be appealed or later set aside.”

Yet he’s been appealing to the city for further benefits.

Since last year he’s been requesting from both the Sheriff’s Office and the Bunnell Police Department to be issued his badge, shield and retirement ID. He also requested his firearm from Bunnell. Both departments have denied him the requests. Bunnell’s administration cited policy and prior practices.

“When an employee of the city resigns, is discharged or leaves the service of the city for any reason,” the city’s policy states, “he/she shall surrender all city-owned property and equipment.” The city administration says Barbee is not eligible  to receive either his firearm or badge, and that in any case, the police department “doesn’t have his specific firearm or badge.”

Barbee, the administration says, did not retire from the city—just as he did not retire from the sheriff’s office—and is not currently receiving city retirement benefits. But it’s not that clear cut, and Barbee is upset that the city is not honoring his request.

He appeared before city commissioners in early March in the public comment portion of the meeting to plead his case—and to accuse the city manager, Larry Williams, of having denied him the chance to have his item placed on the commission agenda for a fuller discussion. “I was trying to go through the proper channels,” Barbee said, only to be “denied.”


A case that “may wind up in a lawsuit,” according to the Bunnell city manager.


“I believe this is a great injustice not only to myself, my family, but law enforcement officers nationwide,” he said, summarizing his service for the city as a training officer and road supervisor, and his decorations. “I am no longer able to work in any field,” he said, claiming that he was also being denied his retirement benefits.

“I’m actually not familiar with that allegation that he’s been denied retirement,” Wade Vose, the city attorney, said at the time, as did Williams. But the attorney recommended that if commissioners wished, they could place the item on a subsequent meeting’s agenda, because the city charter had been amended a year ago to ensure against last-minute agenda changes, except in exigent circumstances. Led by Commissioner Elbert Tucker, the commission agreed to do just that.

“We’ll get to see what the problem is and perhaps come to a conclusion,” Tucker said, but not before Williams spoke in his own defense. “In all my other dealings in any other police department,” Williams said, “when an officer retires, that’s when those items are given. Our current policy and procedures are that these are the possessions of the city and every director is required to have all those possessions returned to the city.”

Tucker stopped him. “The information that you have is not the information I’m aware of,” he said. “The discussion needs to stop and we need to put it on the agenda.”

So it was, for tonight’s agenda, when the matter may be resolved. Reached by phone Monday afternoon, Williams said Vose, the attorney, would call the reporter to answer questions as “this may wind up in a lawsuit,” Williams said.

Vose did not call. But on April 2, he sent a memo to commissioners summarizing the situation from the city’s perspective.

Regarding the firearm and badge issue, Vose noted in a footnote that based on city code, there is “no legal basis for an obligation to provide him with these items.”

“Stated briefly, a retired law enforcement identification card is much more than just a trinket or souvenir,” Vose wrote. Pursuant to a 2004 federal law, a retired law enforcement identification card and documentation that an individual has qualified at a gun range within the last 12 months in effect constitutes a Concealed Weapons Permit, he wrote. “As a result, heads of law enforcement agencies understandably go to great pains to exercise their professional law enforcement judgment in determining whether to issue a retired law enforcement identification card to an individual.

Noting that the Sheriff’s Office also denied Barbee his request, Vose continued, “after review of Mr. Barbee’s short record with BPD, Chief [Tom] Foster decided, in the exercise of his professional law enforcement judgment, to deny Mr. Barbee’s request for issuance of a retired law enforcement identification card.      Mr. Williams subsequently reviewed Chief Foster’s decision and concurred with it.”

The federal law Vose referred to, he said, “does not actually impose an obligation on law enforcement agencies to issue retired law enforcement identification cards. Rather, the law only provides that if an individual has been issued a retired law enforcement identification card, and if that individual has firearms qualification documentation within the last 12 months, then that individual cannot be prosecuted for concealed carry of a firearm.” In other words, the attorney concluded, “the City Commission should not feel that it is under any legal compulsion to order the issuance of a retired law enforcement identification card to Mr. Barbee.”

The commission meets this evening at 7 p.m. at the Bunnell City Hall’s chambers to discuss that and other matters. The meeting can be followed live here.

Support FlaglerLive's End of Year Fundraiser
Thank you readers for getting us to--and past--our year-end fund-raising goal yet again. It’s a bracing way to mark our 15th year at FlaglerLive. Our donors are just a fraction of the 25,000 readers who seek us out for the best-reported, most timely, trustworthy, and independent local news site anywhere, without paywall. FlaglerLive is free. Fighting misinformation and keeping democracy in the sunshine 365/7/24 isn’t free. Take a brief moment, become a champion of fearless, enlightening journalism. Any amount helps. We’re a 501(c)(3) non-profit news organization. Donations are tax deductible.  
You may donate openly or anonymously.
We like Zeffy (no fees), but if you prefer to use PayPal, click here.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Beauford says

    April 13, 2015 at 3:12 pm

    What the hell is wrong with your , boy. You know damn well you can’t have an ex PO-LICE man who hurt his knee chasing Tyron living in Palm Coast without his Tin Badge and Pee-shooter…Remind me to slap your momma when I get home, boy !!!

  2. Teddy says

    April 13, 2015 at 7:23 pm

    I’d love to see the stats relating to tax-free “disability” pensions granted to police. It’s a multi-billion dollar fraud that is happening throughout the U.S.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Conner Bosch law attorneys lawyers offices palm coast flagler county
  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Primary Sidebar

  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Recent Comments

  • Jimbo on Palm Coast Will Not Charge Residents ACH Autopay Check Fees in Utility Payments After All
  • PB on Palm Coast Will Not Charge Residents ACH Autopay Check Fees in Utility Payments After All
  • Mike P on David Jolly Makes It Official: He’s Running for Governor as Newly-Minted Centrist Democrat
  • Deborah Coffey on David Jolly Makes It Official: He’s Running for Governor as Newly-Minted Centrist Democrat
  • Samuel L. Bronkowitz on David Jolly Makes It Official: He’s Running for Governor as Newly-Minted Centrist Democrat
  • Sherry2 on Mark Strobridge, Sheriff’s Chief of Staff, Set to Be Assistant City Manager in Palm Coast for 3 Months
  • Willy James on New Cell Towers Planned for Palm Coast Parkway East of I-95 and in Seminole Woods, as Business and Safety ‘Necessity’
  • Atwp on 1.3-Mile Sea Wall at South End of Flagler Complete But for Turtle Nest’s Delay, Giving A1A ‘Highest Protection’
  • Dennis C Rathsam on 1.3-Mile Sea Wall at South End of Flagler Complete But for Turtle Nest’s Delay, Giving A1A ‘Highest Protection’
  • Sherry2 on Mark Strobridge, Sheriff’s Chief of Staff, Set to Be Assistant City Manager in Palm Coast for 3 Months
  • Jane Gentile-Youd on New Cell Towers Planned for Palm Coast Parkway East of I-95 and in Seminole Woods, as Business and Safety ‘Necessity’
  • DaleL on Judge Dismayed as Hit-and-Run Defendant Rejects 1-Year Deal to Risk Up to 15 in Prison
  • Marek on Poland Veers Right, a Bad Omen for EU, Ukraine and Women
  • Mothersworry on Restaurants Will Be Required to Make Tipping and ‘Fees’ Clear Upfront
  • Skibum on New Cell Towers Planned for Palm Coast Parkway East of I-95 and in Seminole Woods, as Business and Safety ‘Necessity’
  • JC on David Jolly Makes It Official: He’s Running for Governor as Newly-Minted Centrist Democrat

Log in