The Police Officers Standards and Training Board has voted to revoke Duchesne County Sheriff Rick Harrison's peace officer certificate.
The action, if it stands, would bar Harrison from ever again holding a law enforcement job. He will decide within a few days whether to appeal to the Utah Court of Appeals.Harrison pleaded guilty earlier this year to a federal firearms misdemeanor charge and was fined $5,000.
He admitted lying to an arms dealer and using the sheriff's office to purchase three submachine guns for a friend. He said he was unaware it was illegal for a private citizen to own the weapons.
An administrative judge had recommended Harrison's certificate be suspended for two years, but the POST board voted 8-6 this week to revoke the certification.
"Revocation is forever in law enforcement in Utah," said Ike Orr, POST director.
He said the majority of the board felt Harrison should be punished more severely than the administrative judge recommended because Harrison was in charge of the department.
"One of the big issues was that he was the top law-enforcement officer in that county and they felt that in that position, he should be held to a higher standard," Orr said.
Harrison is the second sheriff whose license was revoked. Former Carbon County Sheriff Bryan Bryner's certificate was revoked in 1989 after allegations of drinking and having sex while on the job.
If the action against Democrat Harrison stands, the Duchesne County Democratic Committee will submit three names to the County Commission, which will select one to serve out the sheriff's term through 1994, said County Attorney Herb Gillespie.
Harrison's attorney, Bradley Rich, called the action "a meat-ax job on a rural county law-enforcement officer."
He said an appeal, if made, would argue that POST's guidelines call for suspension, not revocation, and that Harrison was denied due process.