Wayne Trotter •

Ten “issues of concern” with things Shawnee Police Chief Russell Frantz did or didn’t do were cited in a controversial and heretofore confidential letter written by the president of the Shawnee Police Union, a redacted copy of the letter shows (Click here to view the text)..

Included was a charge that Frantz took no action after a picture of a police officer’s private parts allegedly was sent to a dispatcher and subsequently “shown to other employees.” Another claim was that while under the influence of prescription drugs, someone whose name was redacted hit two vehicles while backing out of his driveway, was transported to work, “defecated in the … car,” and was finally transported to an emergency room by ambulance after it was determined the “the individual was so impaired that (he or she) did not know what (he or she) was doing.”

A lightly redacted version of the letter was released early Saturday morning by City Manager Brian McDougal in response to freedom of information requests filed first by reporter Johnna Ray of The Shawnee News-Star and then by Wayne Trotter, co-publisher of The Countywide & Sun. Both requests were filed shortly after the city commission voted unanimously to file a labor complaint based on the letter. Ray and Trotter cover the Shawnee City Commission on a regular basis.

The letter, written on Oct. 1 by Ken King, president of Local 3 of the International Union of Police Associations, was the central issue in the complaint the city filed with the state’s Public Employees Relations Board by Matt Love, the city’s labor attorney. The redaction was done by John Canavan, the city’s regular attorney. There are strong indications that Love and Canavan disagreed over whether the letter was a public record.

King sent the letter to Mayor Linda Peterson and the other six members of the commission at their homes but not to Frantz and McDougal. The basis of the city’s complaint with the state board essentially was that the union ignored contracted avenues by going over the heads of designated authorities and appealing directly to the city’s governing body.

The redactions performed by Canavan apparently only omitted names of parties who might be innocent or references that could tend to reveal the identities of those parties. There appeared to be no attempt to censor charges that named Frantz himself.

Here are the charges King lodged in the letter listed in the order that they appeared in his letter:

• That a someone whose name was redacted responded to a death call and appeared to be under the influence of alcohol. Officers on duty told the duty supervisor “who was not on the scene in violation of department policy.” Another person whose name was redacted was called to the scene. No blood alcohol test was taken as required by policy. The person in question was allowed to drive home in a police unit while armed. The local sent letters to Frantz and McDougal but no action was taken.

• That an unnamed officer took a picture of a private part of his body and sent them to a dispatcher and who showed the picture to other employees. Frantz was aware of the incident, the letter said, but failed to initiate a complaint or investigation. The city manager also knew and took no action.

• That an unnamed officer was directed to take pictures of a rape victim and the pictures were not appropriate. The letter said the pictures should have been taken by a nurse. The officer then downloaded the pictures to a drive with unrestricted access. Frantz took no action other than initiating an investigation into officers who saw the pictures and they were cleared of wrongdoing.

• That a dispatcher took a call from a woman who said she had left her babies at a firehouse and the word was clear. Failure to seek assistance in reviewing the call resulted in a delay of several hours in finding the children who had been left in the bed of a pickup at Fire Station No. 3. No action was taken.

• That someone whose name was redacted kept a suicidal subject on the phone for 45 minutes before advising officers. No action was taken.

• That an officer had an accident in a police car while off duty, outside the city limits and outside Pottawatomie County. The letter claimed the accident clearly wasn’t covered by workers compensation but the city paid the employee for the time he was off and the employee’s personal leave time wasn’t affected. The letter said the union brought the issue to Frantz’ attention and his comment was that the city covered another employee. The letter said Frantz was told that assertion wasn’t correct.

• That an officer was injured while on duty and was treated and returned to work. Several months later, the letter said, the officer suffered “soreness.” The King letter claimed Frantz ordered the officer off work on paid leave. The letter claimed another officer who evidently had a similar problem continued to work.

• That Frantz denied overtime for officers who had just ended their shift but stopped to check an open door on a city building at a time the building should have been unoccupied. King said the officers should have been commended.

• That Frantz “failed to confirm that huge amounts of overtime claimed by (name redacted) were actually worked. During that period, the subject sometimes couldn’t be reached on the radio and wasn’t seen by other officers.

• That someone whose named was redacted was transported to work after hitting two vehicles while trying to get out of a driveway and come to work. The person was under the influence of prescription medicines, the letter said. On the way to work, the person defecated in the car but was brought to work anyway. After arriving at the 911 center (name redacted) was stripped naked and was so impaired that (he or she) didn’t know what they were doing.

The letter or the portion of the letter that was redacted and released was headed “Issues of Concern with the Leadership of Chief Frantz.” A full copy of the released letter is on this website. Additional information will be posted as it develops and a complete story will be published in Thursday’s edition of The Countywide & Sun.