The Associated Press State & Local Wire

Austin, MN

An Austin police captain who was convicted in November of a felony drug crime has been fired.

The Austin Daily Herald reports the three-member Austin Police Civil Service Commission on Monday ordered that Curt Rude be terminated as a city employee.

The commission decided that since the state revoked Rude's peace officer's license Dec. 28 due to the felony conviction, the Police Department couldn't employ him.

The former police captain had argued that the city should give him more time because he was considering an appeal to get his license back.

Rude says he's optimistic that he will work as an Austin police officer again.

Rude was charged in 2007 after he took two bottles of the prescription painkiller OxyContin from the department's evidence room.

Information from: Austin Daily Herald, ttp://www.austindailyherald.com

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
International Association for Property and Evidence
"Law Enforcement Serving the Needs of Law Enforcement"
www.IAPE.org