Lubey

Respondents James Lubey and George Hood were probationary members of the uniformed ranks of the Police Department of the City and County of San Francisco. A citizen made unsworn charges of misconduct against each of them. The matter was referred to the police department’s internal affairs bureau and an investigation was started. The officers were interrogated and thereafter furnished with an unverified complaint, or statement of the charges. A memorandum reciting those and other charges not made known to the officers, was then forwarded by the internal affairs bureau to the police chief or police commission, with a recommendation that the officers be tried for misconduct. The contents of the memorandum were never made known to the officers.

About two and a half months after the investigation’s start, upon a few hours’ notice, the probationary officers were summoned to the police chiefs office. They were told “that he intended to dismiss [them] and that the purpose of the meeting was to provide [them with] the opportunity to address the charges against them to give reasons why they should not be terminated.” At the meeting’s close the officers were handed written notices…