Union Letter Details Dispatcher Accusations

A complaint letter written by a Shawnee (Okla.) police union official has sparked criticism on how it was delivered and a state investigation into charges against the department’s police chief and at least one dispatcher. The accusations include a dispatcher who failed to properly review the location given in a call reporting children in a truck, kept a suicidal 911 caller on the phone for 45 minutes without notifying officers, and showed a photo of an officer’s penis to other employees. The letter was penned by Ken King, president of the local chapter of the International Union of Police Associations, and included complaints against several other people, including police chief Russell Frantz. The letter was delivered by mail to the mayor and six council members’ homes, but not to the city manager or police chief. City officials complained that King had failed to follow proper procedures for filing a complaint, saying chief Frantz should have received the complaint first. King didn’t name the dispatchers involved in the complaints. In one case, King claimed an officer took a photo of his penis and e-mailed it to a dispatcher, “who in turn showed the pictures to other (redacted) employees.” Also, King said an unnamed dispatcher fielded a call from a woman who said she had left her babies at a firehouse. “The subject said ‘firehouse’ three times. It was clear on the recording,” he wrote. “The failure to seek assistance in reviewing the call in an attempt to identify the location…resulted in a delay of several hours in finding the babies,” the letter said. Read more about the situation and view the letter here.