The Fraternal Order of Police has issued a statement in response to claims made by the attorney for two current deputy chiefs and one former deputy chief in the Wichita Police Department.
The attorney and the deputy chiefs are calling on two city officials to resign and they’re seeking a multi-million-dollar settlement. Deputy Chiefs Jose Salcido and Chester Pinkston and former Deputy Chief Wanda Givens are seeking the immediate resignations of Wichita City Manager Bob Layton and Human Resources Director Chris Bezruki as well as a nearly $2.2 million settlement for defamation.
In a letter, the deputy chiefs accuse Layton, Bezruki, the Fraternal Order of Police and others of resisting or defying actions by the executive staff in addressing disciplinary issues in the police department. The deputy chiefs also allege that Layton knew about racist and homophobic text messages between Wichita police officers, firefighters and Sedgwick County Sheriff’s deputies earlier than he claimed.
The FOP issued a response Tuesday that said the letter from attorney James Thompson contained a number of “false allegations and insinuations regarding the relationship between representatives of the Fraternal Order of Police, Wichita Lodge 5, and representatives of the Wichita Human Resources Department.” In the response the FOP stated:
One example of Mr. Thompson’s false allegations is the insulting insinuation that the FOP was
effective as a bargaining representative only because it bought off the City’s HR Manager with
“expensive lunches.” Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is that FOP
representatives had occasional lunch meetings (with a moderately priced menu) with the HR
Manager in which the parties took turns paying for lunch. The FOP also met frequently with the
Chief of Police and other members of the command staff. Some of those meetings occurred over
meals, including meetings with Deputy Chief Salcido and Deputy Chief Pinkston, two of Mr.
Thompson’s clients.
The FOP said it is looking at all legal options to challenge the allegations made in Thompson’s letter to the city.
In July, City Manager Layton and Interim Police Chief Lem Moore announced disciplinary actions for officers involved in recent incidents with inappropriate, insensitive or racist text messages. Chief Moore outlined incidents involving 13 officers that occurred between 2018 and 2021.
Layton added additional steps for three officers. Two had their suspensions expanded from eight to 15 days. Another officer was given desk duty until an evaluation to decide his fitness to return to the field. The City Council recently approved the hiring of the Chicago firm of Jensen Moore to do an independent review of the Police Department. The study is expected to take about six months.
