Circleville City Law Director Kendra Kinney issued a statement Thursday clarifying who will conduct investigations into Police Chief Shawn Baer and Acting Police Douglas Davis, both of whom have been suspended with pay.
Baer was suspended March 11 for allegations of misconduct.
Davis was suspended last week due to alleged employee misconduct.
In Kinney’s statement to the media issued around 3:30 p.m. Thursday, she said two law firms hired on the behalf of City Hall are conducting these investigations.
Investigations regarding Chief Shawn Baer and Acting Chief Douglas Davis are not being handled by the City of Circleville, contrary to the information circulating in the media. The investigations and advice on decisions related to these matters have been and are continued to be provided by the law firms of Frost Brown Todd and by Fishel Downey Albrecht & Ripenhoff, LLC. In order to protect the integrity of the ongoing investigations and required due process for individuals involved, the City of Circleville reserves comment until a time when the investigations have been completed or these firms are ready to make statements.
Kinney’s statement follows City Councilman Zack Brooks’s speech to the Council on Tuesday, in which he accused City Hall of withholding information about what’s been happening with the police department, which is under investigation by the state.
Brooks said though he’s filed a Public Records Request about two weeks ago with City Hall to learn more about what’s happening at CPD; he hasn’t received the documents he requested. Brooks said in some situations, media outlets’ requests for information had been prioritized over his requests.
When Kinney responded to Brooks’ statements regarding his Public Records Request, she never mentioned the law firms that City Hall hired to conduct the investigations. Kinney referred Brooks’ inquiries to CPD.
“I believe the city contacted you regarding your records request and had a few questions to clarify,” she said. “No response (from Brooks) has been provided — waiting on that response for your documentation to be released. If you could please contact the police department, that would be appreciated since they’re the ones who contacted you.”
After the council meeting, the Herald received a statement from Brooks that said he hadn’t received any phone calls or emails from the CPD regarding his requests.
“I haven’t received any phone calls or emails from the PD regarding my requests. I did reach out to the PD and they say that they emailed me last Thursday about my requests, but I have checked through and don’t see anything from them. So I’m not sure if there was a mess up in the email or what happened but I hadn’t received any communication regarding my requests.”
City Hall has hired two top-tier firms to handle matters arising from CPD.
According to Frost Brown Todd’s website , this full-service law firm has more than 575 lawyers operating in 16 offices across eight states and Washington, D.C.
According to Fishel Downey Albrecht & Riepenhoff’s website , the mid-sized law firm is based in Columbus with a statewide practice. FDAR represents hundreds of clients, with operations in nearly all of Ohio’s 88 counties, as well as out-of-state and international clients that have an Ohio presence.
Friday morning, the Herald contacted the Law Director’s office to find out when these law firms were hired.
The Law Director’s Office responded by saying the law firm of Frost, Brown, Todd was hired on March 19 and the law firm of Fishel, Downey, Albrecht & Ripenhoff has had a long-standing relationship with the city.
Since former City Safety Director Steven Wilkinson’s speech in March to City Council about matters affecting CPD, City Hall has been under siege from inquiries from various sources. Wilkinson says he was fired on March 15 for seeking reform within CPD and being a whistleblower.
In addition to Baer and Davis’ suspension, four CPD auxiliary officers have been placed on leave by the state because they failed to complete state-mandated training.
The Ohio Auditor’s office and the Ohio Attorney General’s Ohio Police Officer Training Academy are now investigating CPD.
Brooks said he found out about the investigations and some things happening at CPD by reading the Herald and other media sources rather than from City Hall.
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