The appellant, a police sergeant, appealed his conviction for neglect of duty after failing to report for a scheduled shift.
He argued that severe depression, rather than alcohol abuse, rendered him incapable of attending work and constituted a reasonable excuse.
The Commission upheld the conviction, finding sufficient evidence that alcohol abuse was the incapacitating factor.
The Commission noted that while alcoholism is an illness, it requires some volition and cannot be treated as an ordinary illness to justify a failure to perform duties without appropriate constraints imposed by the Force.
