Klevesahl v. Byington

GRAY, J., pro tem.

The Civil Service Commission (hereinafter called the commission) and the Board of Police Commissioners (hereinafter called the hoard) of the City and County of San Francisco, appeal from a judgment, directing the issuance of a peremptory writ of mandate, commanding the commission to certify respondent to the hoard, as eligible for appointment as a policeman, and the board to make such appointment. Except on the issue of respondent’s character, the evidence raises no conflict, of fact and so this appeal principally requires the interpretation of certain provisions of the former charter of 1899.

On September 25, 1928, the commission adopted, “subject to moral character investigation to be made by the chief of police”, a list or register of persons, eligible to appointment as policemen, which contained respondent’s name. Re

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ports, made in October, 1928, to the chief by officers requested to make such investigation, disclosed (1) that, in 1919, respondent had been arrested for robbery, declared a ward of the juvenile court and released upon probation, Avhich was vacated after twenty months, (2) that, in 1923, he had been arrested on the charge, subsequently dismissed in the police court, of possessing liquor in violation of the State Prohibition Enforcement Act and (3) that, in 1927, he had been tried for a violation of section 112 of the California Vehicle Act, and after the jury disagreed, the charge had been dismissed. On July 22, 1929, the commission certified his name, to the board, as eligible for appointment. The board, on August 5, 1929, held a hearing at which the police records of the above arrests and the testimony taken in the juvenile proceedings and given by respondent in the trial of his accomplice in the robbery were introduced. Respondent introduced letters from three former employers and the pastor of his parish vouching for his good character and recommending his appointment. The business agent of his union, two former employees and a family friend each testified to his good character over a period of ten years. Respondent, as a witness, claimed that he had been exonerated of the robbery, denied any knowledge of it and stated that the third charge had been dismissed after the jury disagreed. The board, by a resolution passed on August 12, 1929, found respondent to be ineligible because of bad character for honesty and sobriety, refused to appoint him and requested the commission to remove his name from the eligible list.