Arbitration records reveal Penn Hills' termination of Officer Robert Gowans was in violation of probationary agreement

Court documents revealed that Penn Hills’ decision to terminate police Officer Robert Gowans in May 2021 violated protections of his probationary status with the department.

“As a probationary police officer, he was statutorily entitled to civil service protections during his one year of probationary employment,” arbitrator Jane Desimone said.

Gowans is a former Wilkinsburg police officer who remains under investigation in the December 2019 shooting death of Romir Talley during a chase. After he was hired by Penn Hills in April 2021, community members and activists voiced public objections, leading the township council to terminate his employment a month later. Gowans filed a grievance through the police union and was reinstated in November.

The Tribune-Review filed a Right-to-Know request on Dec. 15 to obtain court documentation for the reasoning of Gowans’ reinstatement. The documents were received on Dec. 29.

The documents said successful applicants to any position in the police department serve a 12-month probationary period. During the probationary period, a newly hired officer can only be dismissed for cause for the reasons set forth in Section 3 of the administrative code.

In the September hearing over Gowans’ grievance, the police union said the municipality did not go through the proper civil service proceedings to fire him.

According to court documents, former police Chief Howard Burton, who was a part of Gowans’ hiring process, testified in the arbitration. When he interviewed Gowans for the job on Feb. 17, Burton said, Gowans voluntarily discussed the shooting that occurred during his employment as a Wilkinsburg police officer.

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In his testimony, Burton told Gowans that cases involving officer shootings often remain pending for years. He said the municipality did not reach out to the district attorney’s office or the county police department regarding the matter before hiring Gowans. Burton maintained that while he was aware of Gowans’ employment status at the Wilkinsburg Police Department, he was unaware that Gowans was placed on desk duty.

Penn Hills manager Scott Andrejchak said in his arbitration testimony that the municipality relied upon Gowans being a probationary employee and administrative code 288.10(d)(4) as permitting the termination of such employees at the municipality’s discretion.

In his grievance, Gowans challenged that his termination did not fall under any of the municipality’s six reasons for which a probationary police officer can be dismissed. The reasons include lacking minimum qualifications, physically or mentally unfit, illegally using a controlled substance, being guilty of a crime involving “moral turpitude,” having been dismissed from public service for delinquency or misconduct, or being affiliated with any group whose policies or activities are subversive to government.

Desimone found that the municipality’s actions in firing Gowans did not recognize this protection and violated the agreement.

The Wilkinsburg shooting case involving Gowans took place on Dec. 22, 2019. Allegheny County police say that Wilkinsburg police, in response to a 911 call, were chasing Talley, 24, of Wilkinsburg, and that he fired one round at an unidentified police officer, who returned fire.

Allegheny County Police Lt. Venerando Costa testified during the arbitration hearings, recounting details of the December 2019 shooting. According to the court documents, during his testimony, Costa said Allegheny County performed a search of the area and found a silver revolver.

Tests conducted on the gun and on Talley revealed that one shot had been fired — and that Talley had gunpowder on his hands and shirt sleeves, he said. Costa testified that all of his information was consistent with what was reported by Gowans’ grievance.

The document said all the findings were included in Costa’s investigation report and then forwarded to the county’s district attorney’s office. Costa said after completing follow-up interviews, the investigative file was returned to the DA’s office in mid-2020.

“Since that time, no further directions have been received from the district attorney’s office,” he said.

Costa added that while the district’s attorney’s office has not cleared the case, the Allegheny County Police investigation remains “inactive.”

Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Mike Manko said the Wilkinsburg police-involved shooting remains under review. He declined further comment.