The Fire and Police Civil Service Board cut a communication officer’s loss of pay in half for admitted violation of policy after concluding she was not the only person at fault.

Angelique LeBoeuf appealed her 15-day suspension without pay, contending the penalty was too harsh for the infraction.

She admittedly failing to enter an initial complaint on the department log, saying she did so on the advice of her immediate supervisor.

Her testimony at Thursday evening’s hearing, as well as remarks by Police Chief Ronald Dies and questions by commission members wandered far afield, but the central issue was whether LeBoeuf’s failure to enter a call into the log and to dispatch an officer deserved the 15-day suspension.

Dies said some area chiefs told him they would have fired her, another said he would have given her 90 days suspension.

LeBoeuf said her immediate supervisor, Sgt. Ricky Romero, told her to disregard a call “about a black man pushing a lawn mower in a white neighborhood.”

At the time, all officers were on previous call responses.

Since there had been no report or complaint about a stolen mower, she said Romero told her the call sounded like racial profiling.

In hindsight, LeBoeuf testified, she realizes she should have logged the call.

The caller called a second time and still got no response. A third call, to the Sheriff’s Substation, set in motion the chain of events that led to the suspension and the arrest of two men on lawn mower theft charges.

Romero, out of state and unable to appear for the hearing, was not disciplined, according to testimony, which seemed to puzzle board members.

A statement attributed to him contradicted portions of LeBoeuf’s testimony and of Lt. Bret Faulner, the shift supervisor.

In the end, board member John Guillory moved to reduce the loss of pay to eight days, a motion that carried unanimously.