Officer Brian Parker was terminated Monday, while Officer Hugo Stern was suspended, as a result of an incident at the La Strada Bistro on Madison Avenue, and their handling of a prior motor vehicle stop.

Officer Douglas Bepko will be informed of his termination by letter today, as a result of his guilty plea in court to one of several charges he faced in a domestic violence case involving a girlfriend.

Police Chief Bryan T. Norwood had recommended terminating all three officers.

Thomas Kanasky, board chairman, confirmed the board decisions Tuesday after a special board meeting in the Mayor's Conference Room at the City Hall Annex in which Mayor John M. Fabrizi conducted a discussion on ways to improve the police disciplinary hearing process.

Fabrizi said he was looking to streamline the process on behalf of members of the public and officers to reduce the amount of time it has been taking the board to resolve disciplinary matters, such as arose over the past several months regarding Parker, Stern and Bepko.

Following a round-table discussion, Fabrizi said he and his chief administrative officer, Michael Feeney, will outline a proposed process within the next month to assist the board.

However, lawyer John Bohannon, appointed to represent the board in disciplinary proceedings, said each case that comes before the board is unique and tends to take its own course and time to reach resolution.

Summarizing the case involving Parker, Kanasky said, "Parker was terminated for not being truthful in his statements to the police Office of Internal Affairs and his testimony before the board.

"If he remained an officer, his credibility could now be impeached in any arrest he would be involved with," the board said in its memorandum of decision. "Accordingly, we find that due to his violations, Officer Park is unfit for duty and is hereby terminated."

Stern was suspended four months without pay, according to the memorandum, because commissioners found he had broken several Police Department rules and procedures.

The violations stem from Stern leaving his patrol sector with Parker on Feb. 6 to get a drink at La Strada, and also stopping a car with Parker without notifying police dispatchers, the memorandum said.

The case against the officers resulted from a complaint filed by Tom Gogola, editor of the Fairfield County Weekly, who claimed he saw the officers drinking at the bar in the bistro.

Gogola claimed Parker ordered rum and Coke for himself and Stern, but board members, based on witness testimony, concluded he actually ordered only Coke.

The editor also told police investigators Parker displayed at the bar a bag containing a leafy substance he had taken from the car during the motor vehicle stop. But, board members said in their memorandum there was no evidence whether the bag contained marijuana, because its contents were destroyed and not tested.

Kanasky said Bepko was told as a condition of his suspension earlier this year he would be terminated if he pleaded guilty or was found guilty in his criminal case.

Bepko, a 13-year-police veteran, faced charges of third-degree assault, second-degree threatening, second-degree unlawful restraint and violation of a protective order with regard to a Nov. 3 incident in which he reportedly choked and kicked his 37-year-old girlfriend outside her home.

Bepko pleaded guilty to at least one of the charges in court Monday, Kanasky said.

The chairman said the board's decision was in keeping with a policy set by the International Police Chief's Association, which states an officer should be terminated upon conviction of a domestic violation offense.