On June 22, Police Chief Buz Dillon had me arrested for allegedly publishing information about an ongoing internal affairs investigation. He said that's against the law. Now, Dillon, himself, has leaked information about an ongoing internal affairs investigation. We have learned that Dillon told City Commissioner Tom Oosterhoudt that internal affairs is investigating Sgt. John Hardy for allegedly— get this— leaking information about another internal affairs investigation to Key West The Newspaper. We're not making this up. (Shouldn't somebody be swearing out a warrant for Dillon's arrest?)
Furthermore, Commissioner Oosterhoudt has confirmed that Dillon attempted to recruit him to "deal with" KWTN to try to soften the coverage when the officer is disciplined. (Shouldn't Dillon at least wait for his kangaroo court to do its work before planning the lynching?)
Because providing information to a newspaper about a matter of public concern might be protected by the First Amendment, the bogus charge against Hardy is that he may have lied to a supervisor about whether or not he provided information to KWTN. Hardy has reportedly been called in to as many as four internal affairs "hearings"— and a case has yet to be made against him. But that probably won't stop Dillon from eating up one of his own officers in his near-hysterical campaign to try to keep the press— and KWTN in particular— from reporting the often-bumbling, sometimes-dangerous antics of his department. What Dillon is really doing, of course, is trying to keep you, the citizens, from watching what's going on inside the KWPD.
If it weren't so serious, the Hardy investigation might be viewed as a joke. Imagine: Police Chief Buz Dillon presuming to try to discipline anybody for allegedly lying! You may recall that, after his controversial arrest of this writer, he told the Miami Herald that he personally called us here at KWTN to tell us about the warrant. Here's the quote: "I called him up when the warrant was filed and asked him to turn himself in. It was just a courtesy."
Unless he now wants us all to believe that the Miami Herald writer just made up that quote, that statement was a boldface lie. We have three rotating lines here connected to an answering machine— and other messages were successfully captured that afternoon. We have a fax. We have e-mail. And we have a receptionist to accept hand-carried material. Dillon simply made no effort to call— but he said he did.
And he didn't just lie to the Miami Herald. Judge Wayne Miller, who signed the warrant at Dillon's request, told us that he instructed Buz to give us a courtesy call. Buz promised the judge he would do that. He simply lied to the judge.
Buz has also been known to condone lying by his officers, as long as they're one of his "boys." When we caught one lying under oath in court and reported it, Buz' response was, "Well, yeah, maybe he did lie— but "unknowingly".
There's reportedly another internal affairs investigation underway that's a real doozy. Of course, we can't get any official information from Dillon, but here's what we've heard from sources both inside and outside the police department.
A young police department employee was reportedly drinking and driving during the wee hours of the morning. He lost control of his car and crashed into a sign.
Then, reportedly, he got out of the car, walked around and got into the passenger seat. When the cops arrived, he reportedly told them that he had picked up an unidentified man a few minutes earlier— and that's who had been driving when that car went out of control. But the unidentified man had fled the scene.
Nobody believed that story— but there may be an internal effort to protect the young man. We understand that the initial police reports may have been doctored at least once.
Those reports, of course, are not available to the press because there is, police officials say, an "ongoing investigation". The official report may or may not be available in this lifetime.
Police officials have now unofficially confirmed that the officer spotted a month or so ago allegedly receiving oral sex from a woman in his patrol car is Ron Ramsey. But officials say they're still investigating and, therefore, can't officially comment. However, one source told us that the internal affairs investigation has been concluded and that the matter has been kicked down to Ramsey's supervisor for action.
Another source— who also asked to remain anonymous— calls Ramsey a "fine family man" and says that he is completely innocent. This side of the story argues that the witnesses mis-saw what they said they saw.
Of course, some sort of official report from the police department might give us all some insight into what really happened— but who knows when such a report might be issued, if ever.
It has also been more than a month since the police shootout on Front Street and the high-speed chase across the island. The police "inquiry" is reportedly continuing— and may continue until the end of time.
We accidentally stumb-led upon a police undercover operation this week. We were asked not to write about the details and we are honoring that request. But, then, we found out that another newspaper has the same information. Question: If two newspapers know about one of Buz Dillon's "covert" operations, how hard would it be for the bad guys to find out?
Dillon continues to stonewall on requests to at least explain why one of his officers testified under oath two different ways at two different trials about the same incident. Mayor Jimmy Weekley told us this week that he's not even curious. He said he hasn't even asked Dillon for an explanation and Dillon hasn't offered one. Go figure.
Last week, we reported a news tip that Chief Dillon may have left the scene of an accident without stopping to render aid. That was, apparently, not the case. In a supplemental report, issued more than a week after the accident, Dillon said that he did, indeed, stop and render aid, staying at the scene until other officers arrived.
We also chided police department spokeswoman Cynthia Edwards for sending out a news release on the incident before the police report was complete. She said that's not a valid criticism. She says she often, in an effort to get the information out, sends out press releases on cases still being investigated.
Maybe, in an effort to "get the news out", she could provide some information on:
1. The accident involving the police department employee and the mystery driver.
2. The Clintonesque case of when oral sex may not really be oral sex.
3. The cop who testified in two different ways at two different trials about the same incident.
4. The shootout on Front Street.
Stay tuned. But don't hold your breath.