Major discipline · 2025[1]
Suspended 24 days- Rank as reported
- Patrol officer
- Sustained charge(s)
- ; ; Response Guideline Policy Violation; General Responsibilities Rules and Regulations Violation; Prohibited Activity on Duty Rules and Regulations Violation
- Other sanction
- Loss of time
- Separated while IA pending
- No
Plain-language summary (this site, from the cited record only)
While working the communications desk, Patrol Officer Bratsch received a report of a shoplifting, assigned himself the call, then drove in the opposite direction and had a sit-down breakfast, delaying his response by approximately one hour, according to the Springfield Township Police Department in Union County. The record states that during the same shift he did not generate a CAD entry, dispatch a unit, or respond to a reported suspicious vehicle. His 2025 discipline included a 24-day unpaid suspension and an additional 8-day loss of time, totaling 344 hours.
Synopsis as reported by the agency
While working the communications desk, Ofc. Stephen Bratsch received a report of a shoplifting that had just occurred. After checking with another unit, he assigned himself the call. Instead of responding directly to investigate the shoplifting, Ofc. Bratsch drove in the opposite direction and subsequently had a sit-down breakfast at a local restaurant, delaying his response by approximately one hour. The investigation also determined that during the same shift, Ofc. Bratsch received a report of a suspicious vehicle. Ofc. Bratsch never generated a CAD entry, never dispatched a patrol unit to investigate it, and never responded to investigate it himself. Ofc. Bratsch's discipline included an unpaid suspension of 24 working days and an additional 8 day loss of time, totaling 344 hours.