After eight nights of hearings the board, by a vote of two to one, dismissed Hancock as chief of police. 1 Prior to the hearing, he sought unsuccessfully to have Hale recuse himself from the hearing. Hancock demanded a hearing before the board of supervisors pursuant to the Police Tenure Act.

After further investigation, Herzog suspended Hancock in a lengthy letter dated Augand charged him with a number of practices contrary to the collective-bargaining agreement between the police and the township which resulted in officers being paid for services not rendered.

Hale thereafter investigated the matter on his own and later informed the township manager, Frank Herzog, of the conversation with the officer and of the results of his investigation. Hancock, had instituted certain scheduling practices which resulted in patrolmen being paid for days not worked. Several days later the two met and Hale was told that the township's chief of police, Edward W. The officer requested a meeting to discuss what he considered to be illegal practices in the department. In May, 1983, Charles Hale, then a member of the Board of Supervisors of Lower Gwynedd Township, this county, received a telephone call from a patrolman on the township's police force.

Lower gwynedd township police