A former State Highway Patrol sergeant fired for kicking his police dog during training should get his job back, the State Personnel Commission said today.

The commission found that the patrol had failed to prove that Sgt. Charles L. Jones' actions constituted personal misconduct, or that he had abused the dog, Ricoh. Jones should also receive back pay, the commission said.

A 12-year veteran of the patrol, Jones was dismissed in September 2007 after a video of him kicking Ricoh, then a 7-year-old Belgian Malinois, had surfaced, Dan Kane reports. The patrol initially planned to discipline him with a lesser penalty, but dismissed him after the governor's office got involved.

Jones fought the dismissal at an administrative hearing in April, saying he was only following training methods other troopers had used. More than a dozen troopers testified and spoke of  rough obedience techniques such as swinging or hanging dogs by their leads, shocking them with stun guns and throwing rock-filled bottles at them. Patrol policies provided little guidance in training techniques.

Senior Administrative Law Judge Fred G. Morrison sided with Jones, saying the governor's office had placed undue pressure on the patrol to fire Jones. The commission did not agree with that finding.

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A state administrative law judge today called for the reinstatement of a state trooper who was videotaped kicking his dog while it was suspended from a deck.

Judge Fred Morrison concluded that state officials short circuited disciplinary procedures in firing Sgt. Charles Jones over his treatment of the dog, reports Jane Ruffin.

Jones was fired in September, a month after a trooper used a cell phone to record footage of Jones suspending his dog, Ricoh, from a railing, then kicking him at least five times. Jones insisted that what he did was not abusive and that trainers had used several other rough methods.

Ricoh, a 7-year-old Belgian Malinois, was not seriously hurt. He has since been retired from the patrol.

Morrison also said the state should not use dogs such as Ricoh for law enforcement purposes unless it purchases fully-trained canines to be handed by trained troopers who receive specific written techniques for compliance.

The N.C. Highway Patrol suspended its canine program last month until a review determines if dogs were regularly mistreated.

The 15-second video, taken by another trooper using his cell phone, shows Sgt. Charles L. Jones kick the dog, Ricoh, five times, Dan Kane reports.

The dog was tied to the railing by its leash at the time, with its front paws in the air and its rear paws touching the ground. With each kick, the dog swung about two or three feet under the dock.

Altogether, Trooper Raymond Herndon testified, Jones kicked the dog up to eight times. The dog, a 7-year-old Belgian Malinois, was not seriously injured.

The case became public during a string of stories about troopers accused of misconduct.

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