Stillwater, Ok September, 02 (The Oklahoma Post)-
I don’t believe that most public officials set out to engage in Public Corruption or Crimes. But, we see our officials on every level lose sight of their morality and ethics as they determine how important they are in their positions.
We watch many of our public officials determine that one small unethical decision or one small lie is worth accomplishing a task they can’t accomplish with pure intentions and actions. We all know that one small lie has to be covered up with another small lie and the truth becomes lost and the victims ignored.
Unfortunately, this seems to be extremely common in our child protective services as public officials are able to hide behind the privacy and protection of the sensitive documents that may expose them.
Public officials hate when the light of truth exposes the corruption they tried to hide in the dark.
I recorded a conversation regarding the safety of many small children, crimes against multiple adults, and many criminal and fraudulent activities engaged in by a few of our Stillwater officers. I was present for the conversation. Stillwater Mayor Will Joyce was present for the conversation. City Manager Norman McNickle was present for the conversation. City Attorney John Dorman was present for the conversation. I am sure that none of these public officials appreciate the fact that this conversation will have light shed on it.
I have been asked about a recent public statement put out by our mayor. He stated that these specific allegations regarding these Stillwater police officers ‘have been thoroughly investigated by internal and external parties, and there is no indication of any wrongdoing.’ My opinion is that this statement is a lie. I believe it is disingenuous and I believe it undermines the integrity of our police department, our judicial system, and the leadership that we vote on.
There is not one case number to represent any of the allegations or complaints against these few officers. None of the victims were interviewed regarding these complaints. None of the witnesses were interviewed regarding any of the complaints. All of the evidence was refused by a police officer and by our City manager. I was told that I would have two unbiased officers contact me to begin these investigations. Our Stillwater mayor is fully aware that no officers ever contacted me to begin these investigations. Open records of communication between me and all of our city elected officials at the time will show that I very respectfully requested help for several victims. (since this communication, we have two new council members that may not have full disclosure.)
About a year ago I made an open records request that would have helped a couple of these victims. However, if this open records request would have been fulfilled, it would have shown that our mayor and city manager protected and perpetuated fraud and false reports that were eventually entered under oath into the Payne County District Court.
Rather than fulfill my federally protected open records request, our Stillwater mayor allowed our city management to use thousands of our taxpayer dollars to cover the situation up and put me under a protective order that does not allow me to have open records or speak with my elected representatives. This is a direct violation of the federal Freedom Of Information Act and clearly strips me of my rights to speak with my elected officials. This protective order was agreed to behind my back and with false information again being presented by the city.
This path of covering up the truth and lying to accomplish goals, put our mayor in a position where he chose to lie about whether or not these officers had been investigated for the crimes they committed. I too would like to see a case number for any of the allegations we spoke about. I too would like to see what law-enforcement agency reached out to any of these victims. I too would like to see any crimes that these police officers may have committed be added to a Brady list that would help protect others from these actions in the future.
I believe the truth is the best answer. I believe we need some more ‘light’ here in Stillwater. I stand behind my previous request for justice. I also stand behind my previous statement: ‘The best way to let the vast majority of our outstanding police officers know that we appreciate them and respect them, is to keep those officers that shed a bad light on law-enforcement accountable.’
(Writing by Darrell Dougherty; Letter To The Editor; Editing by Robbie Robertson)
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