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Feb 15, 2008 10:07 pm US/Central
Southlake PD Under Grand Jury Investigation
SOUTHLAKE (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
The Southlake Police Department is the subject of an ongoing grand jury investigation.
On a tape obtained exclusively by CBS 11 News, Southlake Police Department's Chief Wade Goolsby is heard warning his officers to stay quiet. He makes comments like, "To say that my patience is worn thin is an understatement."
Southlake's Assistant City Manager now wants a copy of the tape, and is pressuring his officers to turn it over. The City Secretary took the unusual step of filing an open records request to its officers, demanding that they turn over all personal notes and recordings.
Media and members of the public use the Open Records Act to get information from the government. But the Southlake believes that all materials maintained by city employees are considered public information, and must be produced under threat of criminal penalties.
Now, the Texas Municipal Police Association is defending Southlake's officers from actions taken by the city. "Our organization does not feel that those items they requested are open to public records," said Tom Gaylor of the Texas Municipal Police Association (TMPA).
In a letter sent to the City of Southlake, the TMPA responded to the open records request by saying: "This open records request was initiated by the Assistant City Manger and Director of Public Safety of Southlake, Jim Blagg, who appears to be looking for information to help protect his beleaguered chief of police. These officers' personal documentation is not subject to an open records request. … Officers are not required to produce this information."
And this is not the first open records request that Jim Blagg's office has sent in connection with this police department controversy.
Private attorney Terry Hickey received not one, but two open records requests from Jim Blagg's office. Her client, Jason Steele, is now on administrative leave, a casualty of the department's internal investigation into departmental leaks.
Hickey has been practicing for 13 years and has never had this happen. She believes that she is under no obligation to comply because she has attorney-client privledge and, "I'm a private corporation. I'm an attorney at law, and I'm not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. I'm not a governmental entity."
Hickey sized up the city's latest actions against its officers and her by saying, "I don't know if they're just so arrogant to believe that they can strong arm and bully their employees, or if they're just that ignorant."
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