A police officer, soldier, firefighter or doctor facing a disciplinary proceeding, and sometimes a criminal one too? Your profession is on the table.

1. 1Do not give a version in a debrief or command inquiry before adviceAn operational debrief is meant for learning, and in some systems its material is privileged. But what is said there shapes the picture for the commanders, and sometimes reaches investigators indirectly. Give dry facts; the full version is built with a lawyer.
2. 2In a criminal investigation you are a suspect, not a colleagueAn investigator from the Police Investigation Department, the Military Police or the police is not a colleague. All the rules of a summons for questioning apply: the right to counsel, the right to silence, no signing what you have not read. Read the page on a summons for questioning before you go in.
3. 3Demand to know which track you are onDisciplinary only? Criminal? Both? For police officers the disciplinary proceeding is stayed until the criminal one ends unless you agreed otherwise (section 12). For doctors and civil servants the two can run in parallel. The answer decides what you say and when.
4. 4Suspension: ask for reasons and a hearingSuspension is not a punishment, but it hurts pay and reputation. For civil servants it is the Civil Service Commissioner's power when a criminal investigation or complaint is pending; in the army it follows the suspension directive. Every suspension carries a right to be heard, and you can ask to shorten it or replace it with a transfer.
5. 5Do not confess "to get it over with"A soldier's disciplinary conviction is not a criminal record, but a police officer's admission before a single adjudicator goes into the personal file, and a doctor's admission before the committee is a fact for every other proceeding. What looks like a small matter is pulled out years later, at a promotion board or in the next case.
6. 6Keep everything, and delete nothingShift logs, messages, medical records, orders, instructions you received. Deleting after learning of an inquiry is obstruction. You are the only one who knows which document shows you acted by the procedure.
7. 7Do not talk to the media, not even "on background"Every quote becomes evidence and a further disciplinary offence. If there is something to say publicly, the lawyer says it, with your consent, at the right time.

These rules are common to all the professions. The laws are separate, so in the first call we check which law applies to you and what its deadlines are.

1. 1Police officers: single adjudicator, disciplinary court and the Police Investigation DepartmentDisciplinary offences are heard by a single adjudicator (an officer at least two ranks above) or by the disciplinary court. Single adjudicator: reprimand, a fine of days' pay, confinement, licence disqualification up to 60 days, detention up to 35 days. The court: up to 45 days' detention or confinement, demotion, licence disqualification up to 90 days. Dismissal is the Commissioner's power alone, even after acquittal, if the officer is found "unsuitable". Appeal against a single adjudicator within 15 days, against the court to the appeals tribunal within 45 days, and from there by leave to the District Court. Criminal investigations of officers for offences carrying over a year are run by the Police Investigation Department in the Ministry of Justice. Limitation of a disciplinary offence: three years before the court, one year before a single adjudicator.Police Law (Disciplinary Proceedings, Complaints and Miscellaneous Provisions), 2006, sections 5, 11, 12, 15, 37, 39, 51, 57, 63a, 72 and 74; Police Ordinance, sections 49i to 49k
2. 2Soldiers: disciplinary proceeding or military courtA junior adjudicating officer (company commander and up) may impose up to seven days' detention or confinement. A senior adjudicating officer (battalion commander and up): up to 35 days, and demotion. The soldier is not represented in disciplinary proceedings, but may demand trial in a military court, where there is a defence counsel and also a criminal record. An appeal against a disciplinary judgment is filed within days, and the military prosecution may cancel or vary a disciplinary judgment. Whoever was tried in disciplinary proceedings is not punished again for the same act. Career soldiers: suspension from duty during an investigation under the Military Advocate General's directives, and dismissal boards reviewable by the High Court.Military Justice Law, 1955, sections 149, 152 to 172 and 539a; MAG Directive 3.04 (suspension from service)
3. 3Firefighters: civil service disciplineEmployees of the National Fire and Rescue Authority are civil servants, and the Civil Service (Discipline) Law applies: a prosecutor from the Civil Service Commission, a disciplinary tribunal, representation by a lawyer. Disciplinary offences include unbecoming conduct and conviction for an offence of moral turpitude. Measures: from warning and reprimand, through demotion and a pay freeze, to dismissal and disqualification from the civil service. Suspension by the Civil Service Commissioner when a criminal investigation is opened or a complaint filed. Appeal against the tribunal to the District Court within 30 days. Volunteers: the unit commander may only warn, reprimand, restrict or end the volunteering.National Fire and Rescue Authority Law, 2012, sections 12, 18 and 63; Civil Service (Discipline) Law, 1963, sections 17, 34, 37, 43, 47, 48, 61 and 62
4. 4Doctors: complaint, committee and orderA complaint by the Director General of the Ministry of Health (or by an injured party) is heard by a committee on which a representative of the Attorney General also sits. Grounds: conduct unbecoming a doctor, incompetence or gross negligence, breach of the Patient's Rights Law, and a criminal conviction. The doctor is entitled to at least 30 days' notice and a written defence. The order: warning, reprimand, suspension or revocation of the licence. The Director may suspend a licence temporarily, up to six months, where there is urgent danger to the public, after a hearing, and the appeal does not stay it. Appeal against a final order to the District Court within three months. A conviction for a sexual offence suspends the licence automatically. Decisions are published on the Ministry of Health website.Physicians Ordinance [New Version], 1976, sections 41, 44, 44a to 44d and 47
5. 5Doctors: inquiry committees and criminal liabilityAn inquiry committee appointed after an unusual event gives its findings to the patient, but the protocol is confidential, and a court may order disclosure if justice requires. The Director General may pass the protocol to investigators and to a disciplinary proceeding. A quality-control committee is fully privileged and not evidence. In parallel: causing death by negligence carries up to three years' imprisonment, as does a rash or negligent act. What a doctor tells a committee without advice can reach the criminal file.Patient's Rights Law, 1996, sections 21 and 22; Penal Law, sections 304 and 338
6. 6The common rule: acquittal is not the end, and conviction is a beginningIn all the systems, disciplinary liability does not detract from criminal liability and vice versa. A criminal acquittal does not bar a disciplinary proceeding on the same acts under a lower standard of proof, and a criminal conviction is a disciplinary ground in itself: dismissal of an officer, disqualification of a civil servant, revocation of a doctor's licence. So a criminal plea agreement is built with an eye to the disciplinary proceeding that follows: an offence without moral turpitude, no conviction, or facts that do not close the door.Police Law, sections 11 and 74; Civil Service (Discipline) Law, sections 17(6) and 61; Physicians Ordinance, section 41(5)
7. 7Debrief and inquiry: what is privileged and what is notA military debrief is privileged and not evidence in a criminal proceeding, and so is police debrief material, on which only the Attorney General may order an investigation. But the debrief decides what the commanders think, who is suspended and who is summoned for questioning. And a command inquiry or a Ministry of Health inquiry committee are not privileged to the same extent. Before you speak, check which tool it is.Military Justice Law, section 539a; Police Law, section 102; Patient's Rights Law, section 21

These laws change from time to time, and each system also has internal orders and procedures. At the meeting we check the current text and the procedure that applies to you.

• A first, discreet callWhat happened, who is inquiring, at what stage. We identify the applicable law, the deadlines and the real risk: detention, dismissal, licence. We say honestly what is at stake.
• Debrief, investigation and suspensionWe prepare you for questioning by the Police Investigation Department, the Military Police or the police, stay available by phone during it, and argue against the suspension or for shortening it. We write to superiors when an inquiry that turned into an interrogation needs to be stopped.
• In the court and the committeeWe represent before the police disciplinary court, the civil service disciplinary tribunal, the Ministry of Health disciplinary committee and the military courts. We run evidence or negotiate, as the case requires.
• AfterAppeal, petition against the Commissioner's decision, support in an application for a renewed licence, and handling of the record. And when there is also a criminal case, we run both together, so that one does not finish off the other.

The fee is set in advance, in writing, per proceeding. Investigation, disciplinary proceeding and appeal are separate stages.