Ross Township Police Union Votes 'No Confidence' In Chief

ROSS TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) - The Ross Township Police Association took a "no confidence" vote in the chief over allegations he mishandled a report of misconduct.

The union has submitted a vote of "no confidence" in Chief Joseph Ley before but said working conditions have only worsened since then. In light of the most recent controversy, the union will be submitting the 27-6 vote because they believe the chief did not handle the situation appropriately.

Ley is accused of minimizing an incident where Sergeant Joseph Serowik allegedly shared a lewd video of a child on his personal phone. Serowik is accused of showing the video to officers who weren't part of the investigation while laughing and making jokes, according to a letter from the association to township leaders.

An officer was offended and reported it to the shift supervisor and it went up the ladder to the chief, the letter said. That officer met with the chief and accused Ley of downplaying the incident. Ley allegedly said Serowik was showing the video as evidence.

"Instead of appropriately addressing this serious matter, Chief Ley was adversarial with our member who reported the misconduct. It is suspected that this matter was not handled with the urgency it required because the officer accused of the misconduct is aligned with Chief Ley," the union said in a release.

The union said Serowik could be breaking the law if it fell under sexual abuse of children, which is a felony. The state Attorney General's Office is now investigating.

The union also brought up a previous months-long investigation when another officer was placed on administrative leave over claims of misconduct while Serowik remains on active duty.

Township commissioners are set to meet on Tuesday. In a statement last week, the board said it takes the allegations seriously.

The police department said it can't comment on personnel matters.