A Stranger in Comm Center, Politics & Investigation

A tangle of comm center security, local politics, logging tapes and other intrigue has snagged the Oakdale (Calif.) police department and city council, sparked by a single phone call between the chief and a dispatcher. Last Feb. mayor Farrell Jackson called police chief Marty West, who wanted someone to check on his mother-in-law one block from the city limits. Jackson felt the woman might be in jeopardy—three of his family members were murdered a year earlier. An Oakdale dispatcher had earlier told a neighbor to call the sheriff’s office to check on the woman, since she lived outside the city. After Jackson’s call, West called an unnamed Oakdale dispatcher and instructed her to send an officer to check on the mayor’s mother-in-law. “Hey, there’s an opportunity for the mayor to really appreciate the police department right now,” West told the dispatcher, as recorded on a logging tape. “It might pay off, you know, when it comes time with all these budget cuts and stuff like that. We’re here for the mayor.” Then in July, an unidentified person mysteriously appeared in the secure Oakdale PD comm center, followed by information that an Oakdale newspaper reporter had a copy of the logging tape of the chief’s call to the dispatcher. Last week, one of five candidates for city council admitted he was the mysterious comm center visitor, but Bill Camp told a council meeting that he’s a police volunteer, was authorized to be in the center, and was visiting someone he knew. Camp said he knows nothing of the recording being leaked to the press. After hearing statements from West and Camp, the Oakdale city council has approved $4,000 for an outside investigation into the tape’s release. Read a complicated account of the matter here.