A. 
No person employed in Police Department shall be suspended without pay, removed or reduced in rank except for the following reasons:
(1) 
Physical or mental disability affecting the person's ability to continue in service, in which cases the person shall receive an honorable discharge from service.
(2) 
Neglect or violation of any official duty.
(3) 
Violation of any law which provided that the violation constitutes a misdemeanor or felony.
(4) 
Inefficiency, neglect, intemperance, immorality, disobedience of orders, or conduct unbecoming an officer.
(5) 
Intoxication while on duty.
(6) 
Engaging or participating in conducting of any political or election campaign while on duty or in uniform or while using Borough property otherwise than to exercise the person's own right of suffrage.
(7) 
Engaging or participating in the conduct of a political or election campaign for an incompatible office as provided in Section 1104(f) of the Borough Code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 8 Pa.C.S.A. § 1104(f).
B. 
A person so employed shall not be removed for religious, racial or political reasons. A written statement of any charges made against any person so employed shall be furnished to the person within five days after the same are filed. The person so employed shall have 10 days from the date of receiving the notice in which to submit a written request for a hearing to the Civil Service Commission under § 16-44.
C. 
If, for reasons of economy or other reasons, it shall be deemed necessary by any borough to reduce the number of paid employees of the police force, then the borough shall furlough the person or persons, including probationers, last appointed to the respective force. Such removal shall be accomplished by furloughing in numerical order, commencing with the person last appointed until such reduction shall have been accomplished. In the event the said police force shall again be increased, the employees furloughed shall be reinstated in the order of their seniority in the service. The provisions of this subsection as to reductions in force are not applicable to a Chief of Police.
A. 
The person suspended, removed or reduced in rank may make written answers to any charges filed against the person not later than the day fixed for hearing. The Commission shall grant the person a hearing, which shall be held within a period of 10 days from the filing of charges in writing, unless continued by the Commission for cause at the request of the Borough Council or the accused. Notwithstanding this provision, the failure of the Commission to hold a hearing within 10 days from the filing of the charges in writing shall not result in the dismissal of the charges filed.
B. 
At any hearing, the person against whom the charges are made may be present in person and by counsel. The Borough Council may suspend the person, without pay, pending the determination of the charges against the person, but in the event the Commission fails to uphold the charges, then the person sought to be suspended, removed or reduced in rank shall be reinstated with full pay for the period during which the person was suspended, removed or reduced in rank, and no charges shall be officially recorded against the person's record. A stenographic record of all testimony taken at the hearings shall be filed with, and preserved by, the Commission, which record shall be sealed and not be available for public inspection in the event the charges are dismissed.
C. 
All parties concerned shall have immediate right of appeal to the Court of Common Pleas of the county, and the case shall there be determined as the court deems proper. No order of suspension made by the Commission shall be for a longer period than one year. The appeal shall be taken within 30 days from the date of entry by the Commission of its final order and shall be by petition. Upon the appeal being taken and docketed, the Court of Common Pleas shall fix a day for a hearing and shall proceed to hear the appeal on the original record and additional proof or testimony as the parties concerned may desire to offer in evidence. The decision of the court affirming or revising the decision of the Commission shall be final, and the employee shall be suspended, discharged, reduced in rank or reinstated in accordance with the order of court.
D. 
The Borough Council and the person sought to be suspended, removed or reduced in rank shall at all times have the right to employ counsel before the Commission and upon appeal to the Court of Common Pleas. Unless the Borough Council or the person sought to be suspended, removed or reduced in rank requests that the proceedings before the Commission be open to the public, the proceedings before the Commission pursuant to this section shall be held in the nature of a closed executive session that shall not be open to the public. Any such request shall be presented to the Commission before the civil service hearing commences. The deliberations of the Commission, including interim rulings on evidentiary or procedural issues, may be held in private and shall not be subject to a request for being open to the public, the Borough Council or to the person sought to be suspended, removed or reduced in rank. The Commission's disposition of the disciplinary action shall constitute official action which shall occur at a public meeting held pursuant to 65 Pa.C.S.A. Ch. 7 (relating to open meetings).