Metro Police officers are proud of their uniforms. And they should be.

Watch: Word On The Street (11/16/07)

But wearing his uniform led to Sgt. Mark Hayes being fired in October 2006.

Hayes was wearing his police uniform in August 2006 when he appeared with his former wife at a child custody hearing.

But an anonymous tipster reported him being in uniform, which is against Metro Police policy.

Hayes told superiors he did it so he would not have to change into his uniform when he went on duty that afternoon.

At a police hearing, Hayes was given a 1-day suspension for violating the uniform policy. Hayes appealed.

Besides the uniform charge, he was later accused of an assortment of charges including driving his police car to the courthouse, turning off the car's navigation system and more.

An administrative judge assigned by the state held the hearing.

The judge ruled the termination was not proper and recommended a 7-day suspension on other charges.

One of those days was for wearing his uniform to court. Hayes returned to work nine months later in October.

Metro paid him 50 percent of his salary while he was off because he worked during that time as a wrecker driver.