Metro SWAT sniper won’t get to appeal transfer

A Metro SWAT sniper who lost his job on the elite unit for posting an inflammatory Facebook comment after the standoff at Cliven Bundy’s ranch in April can’t appeal his transfer, an arbitrator ruled.

The arbitrator last week denied officer Russell Laws’ grievance against Metro and determined his administrative transfer from SWAT was appropriate.

Laws was booted to patrol after he posted in a public Facebook thread just hours after the April 12 standoff between officers and Bundy’s armed supporters.

A Bundy supporter posted a news photo of a militia member aiming a rifle at officers.

Laws, 41, replied that police had their guns trained on Bundy’s people, too.

“I just wish you could see how big that guy prone with the rifles head was in the scope of the (police) Snipers .308 …. don’t worry, he wouldn’t have have felt a thing!” Laws wrote.

Metro has two types of transfers. Disciplinary transfers typically come with punishment, such as a suspension, and can be appealed; administrative transfers don’t involve any formal punishment and can’t be appealed.

Laws’ union argued Laws’ transfer was clearly “punishment” and the officer should have been allowed to appeal.

The post violated Metro’s social media policy, which prohibits officers’ speech “reflecting behavior that would reasonably be considered reckless or irresponsible.”

Metro brass felt Laws’ comment, although not a direct threat, could have escalated an already dangerous situation.

Hundreds of armed Bundy supporters had gathered at the ranch in Bunkerville, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, to protest the federal roundup of the rancher’s cattle. Bundy hasn’t paid grazing fees for 20 years and ignored a court order to remove the cows from public land.

Laws’ supervisor, Sgt. Michael Quick, also received an administrative transfer after he supported Laws in an interview with the union.

The union is planning to sue Metro because of the transfers, according to a memo obtained by the Review-Journal.

“We cannot allow the Department to continue their apparent practice of violating our officers’ due process rights,” PPA assistant executive director Mark Chaparian wrote in a memo to union members. “We will aggressively prosecute this case to vindicate the aggrieved officers and to protect your rights.”

Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@reviewjournal.com. Follow @blasky on Twitter.