North Carolina Could Ban Police Officers from Having Sex On Duty, In Uniform

If proposed rules get passed, police officers will be explicitly forbidden from having sex in their uniforms, in their vehicles or while on duty across North Carolina. Lying during internal or criminal investigations would also be banned.

While such directives may seem obvious, consequences for law enforcement officers caught having sex on duty or twisting the truth in the past have been inconsistent, attorneys representing officers have said.

Currently, state commissions that decide whether officers accused of such acts should keep their badges base judgments on whether they lack the “good moral character” required of law enforcement.

The vague standard is challenging for commissioners to consider and unclear for officers to understand, said Chris Blue, chair of the state Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission.

Language describing when someone’s certification may be suspended, revoked or denied would more clearly spell out standards and help officers “understand where the guardrails are,” said Blue, a former Chapel Hill police chief and town manager.

“We want to be clear so folks can stay out of trouble and can remain certified to do their important work in their communities,” said Blue, whose commission oversees local police, Highway Patrol troopers, along with state detention, probation and juvenile justice officers.

Cleveland County Sheriff Alan Norman, who is chair of the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Education and Training Standards Commission, said that group is also considering updating their rules to provide more specific guidance for sheriff deputies, their supervisors and county detention officers.

‘A little embarrassed’ rule change is needed

Randy Hagler, immediate past president of the North Carolina Fraternal Order of Police, said the organization’s board doesn’t oppose the amendments. But members were “a little embarrassed” that it needed to be spelled out.

“Obviously, we expect our officer members to be moral and tell the truth,” he said during an interview.

But a look back shows how a seemingly clear line often can get blurred during officer disciplinary cases.

The gray area comes from how commissioners judge “good moral character” and decide whether someone has reformed. In court, officers will also argue: Should one big mistake keep a dedicated, talented candidate from serving their community — especially during an ongoing staffing crisis?

Mikael Gross, an attorney who often represents police officers before the education and training standards commission, said members have recently started taking a more aggressive stance in these types of cases.

That’s a departure from the past. Officers kept their certification in sexual misconduct cases the commission tackled in 2010, 2014, 2017, 2019 and in 2021, according to a filing from a 2023 case where a Burlington officer fought to keep his certification after being caught having sex with two women while on duty.

One case that appeared before the commission in 2017 involved a married Wilson officer repeatedly meeting and having sex with a woman while he was on duty, in his patrol car and on its hood, according to court documents from the case.

The woman reported the relationship to police because she was concerned about nude photos of her on the officer’s phone. By the time the case reached the commission, the officer successfully argued he had reformed, and commission members agreed.

“Petitioner has shown through competent endorsement that his moral character has been rehabilitated since that time,” the commission ruled, according to court documents.

Recent case involving officer having sex on duty

In a more recent case, a former Jacksonville police officer, sought a similar ruling, seeking to regain his certification. But commission members were doubtful.

A Jacksonville Police Department investigation found that the officer, a married school resource officer at an elementary school, began a relationship with a substitute teacher who was also married.

Flirting at school and buying each other coffee evolved to a kiss on a soccer field and a meeting near the New River, according to court documents from the case. During the meeting, the officer and the woman started to have sex in her car while he was in uniform and on duty, but ceased when they “came to their wits,” the officer wrote in a statement.

After the couple’s spouses found out, the teacher’s husband reported the affair to Jacksonville police. The officer was fired in July 2023, and the commission’s probable cause committee voted to deny the officer’s certification indefinitely.

The officer sought a hearing before an administrative law judge and in October argued that he had since reformed. He wanted his certification reinstated so he could work in law enforcement in Wisconsin, according to commission documents.

After the officer submitted supportive letters from his wife, a North Carolina high school principal and others, Administrative Law Judge Samuel Morris concluded that the officer “now possesses the good moral character required of a justice officer.”

Still, the commission unanimously voted in February to deny the reinstatement indefinitely, saying they need more evidence to prove that he had changed.

A trooper lied, but should he be barred from law enforcement?

A case awaiting an answer from the North Carolina Supreme Court is an example of the challenges of deciding someone should be allowed to return to work in law enforcement after they are caught lying.

It involves Maurice Devalle, who from 1998 to April 2017, worked as a trooper for the State Highway Patrol.

A Highway Patrol investigation found that Devalle had said he lived in Johnson County, which was within the 20-mile area near his duty station, which was required by the patrol, according to court documents.

Devalle later admitted that he never lived at the address and actually lived in Wake County, where he repeatedly signed on to work, even though he was supposed to do so at his duty station.

In April 2017, the patrol terminated Devalle’s employment for “substantial untruthfulness, neglect of duty and insubordination,” court documents state.

Devalle applied for justice-officer certification with the sheriff’s commission. An initial probable cause committee recommended that it be denied.

After an administrative hearing in December 2019, a judge found that Devalle defrauded the state and lied but that he had rehabilitated his character.

The sheriffs’ commission, however, took issue with his “lack of candor and truthfulness” during the administrative hearing and denied his certification.

After two appeals to state courts, with Devalle winning both, the case went to the state Supreme Court. Justices heard the case heard the case on Feb. 25, but haven’t yet released its decision.

Gross, the attorney who represents officers, said that he thinks the training and standards commission’s amendments to rules are premature and that the commissions should await guidance from the Supreme Court.

Still, the police commission is moving forward. A public hearing on the language will be held on Aug. 1. Information on how to comment before or during the meeting can be found here.

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