DUBUQUE - The career of a Dubuque police officer rests in a judge's hands. Last November the city fired Officer Kurt Rosenthal after he admitted he made sexually harassing phone calls to a female officer. But Rosenthal wants his job back.

In court Officer Rosenthal admitted to getting drunk, driving drunk and leaving a sexually harassing phone message on a fellow officers cell phone.

But he told the court he has learned from his mistake and deserves his job back.

Rosenthal said, "What I've learned is that things that I do affect more than just myself and that's harder to deal with than the punishment itself."

Police Chief Kim Wadding says he fired Rosenthal because the officer admitted to making harassing calls to officer Jaime Bowers.

Last month Dubuque's Civil Service Commission ruled to lessen Rosenthal's punishment to a 30 day suspension. The city is appealing that ruling.

In court Officer Bowers said she believes Rosenthal made the calls out of malice. She also told the court since reporting the harassment she feels left out among other officers and says she now works in a tense environment. Rosenthal's lawyers argue this was an isolated event and prior to this incident he had a great record with the police department.

Rosenthal was a D.A.R.E. officer which means he taught middle school students to stay away from drugs and alcohol.

Rosenthal said, "It's about making right decisions. And in this case I did not, and I let those guys (students) down. Hopefully they can learn from my mistakes."

Dubuque County Judge Lawrence Fautsch says he needs at least a week to decide whether or not Rosenthal should get his job back.
In the meantime Rosenthal says he has a second job and is limiting the amount of alcohol he drinks.

Because this is a personnel matter, the police chief and the city attorney said they can not comment.