FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) – A police officer who was fired for violating an obscure state law banning smoking among public safety workers plans to fight his dismissal, which was based on an anonymous letter.

Wayne Jeffrey, a seven-year veteran of the Fall River force, was fired May 29 after an internal investigation, prompted by an unsigned letter that claimed he smoked tobacco at a party.

A 1988 state law states that police officers and firefighters are subject to immediate termination if they are found to be using tobacco products either on- or off-duty.

“It’s our policy to investigate any accusation thoroughly regardless of the source,” Police Chief John M. Souza told the Fall River Herald News. “The statute as written provides us no room for discretion.”

Statewide, only two other officers have been fired since the law went into effect, but Jeffrey’s case was the first based on an anonymous tip.

“I don’t think when they drafted this law they intended it to be used in this manner,” Jeffrey, 42, told the Boston Herald. “If you’re charged with a crime, you get to face your accuser. I never got to face my accuser.”

State Rep. Robert Correia, D-Fall River, agrees and said he would file legislation to give officers second chances. Those caught smoking would have one chance to quit by joining a cessation group at their own cost, according to Correia’s bill. He called the anonymous letter “insidious.”

“The law wasn’t passed for people to use it against one another,” Correia said.

Jeffrey plans to appeal for arbitration or a civil service hearing. History is against him, however. The state Supreme Judicial Court in 1997 upheld the firing of a Plymouth officer who was caught smoking four years earlier in her cruiser.

The Legislature passed the law to accompany legislation that enables public safety officials to receive special disability benefits easier than the average worker. Without the law, proponents argue, doctors are unable to determine if a heart or lung illness is work related.

Under the law, all new public safety hires must sign a contract, as Jeffrey did, pledging not to smoke tobacco products.

AP-ES-06-22-03 0608EDT

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