Interim PD chief gets death threat to leave Wichita or die, police say

Interim police chief Lem Moore has received a death threat: leave Wichita or die, police said Tuesday.

Announcement of the threat, submitted anonymously to police last week, follows Monday’s news that Mayor Brandon Whipple and council member Brandon Johnson were threatened with death if they appointed a new police chief.

The threats to elected officials and Moore were made through a police tip line where tipsters can remain anonymous.

It’s unclear what prompted the threats.

The police department has been under intense scrutiny lately for its handling of racist and inappropriate messages sent by officers and for the light punishments officers received. The only person suspended was an officer who called former chief Gordon Ramsay a tool.

Ramsay resigned March 1 to move closer to family in his home state of Minnesota, where he is now running for sheriff. The messages and punishment were first reported by the Eagle in a March 21 story.

The day after the story published, City Manager Robert Layton announced that a committee would look into the matter and that a third party would look into the department’s culture and issues around the department investigating its own officers.

In April, the committee released a report that said Ramsay and two deputy chiefs, Chester Pinkston and Jose Salcido, mishandled the investigation and subsequent punishments. Police did not report the messages to federal or state prosecutors, which is required under federal law to ensure fair trials.

The city is taking bids for a third-party investigation. Ramsay and the deputy chiefs want the third party to also investigate human resources manager Chris Bezruki for overturning police discipline cases. There is no indication that happened here.

Bezruki has said he did nothing wrong. Whipple said the third party would do a “deep dive into everything that touches the police department” and try and answer “why the stories didn’t add up.”

Ramsay has said he told Layton about the messages. Layton has said Ramsay did not. There are also unanswered questions about why relevant details were left out when the messages and punishment were first reported to the Citizens Review Board, which was created to increase community trust and police transparency.

Despite taking over at such a tumultuous time, Moore, a 31-year department veteran, has considered applying for the top spot. Moore, who is Black, has criticized the punishment given to the officers.

The city has picked a consultant to help find its next police chief.

This is the first publicly known death threat Moore has received since he took over as interim chief in March.

It is the second publicly reported death threat against Whipple. Local musician Meredith Dowty awaits trial on charges of threatening the mayor in October 2020 after he and other elected officials approved a COVID-19 mask mandate.

This story was originally published May 24, 2022 at 5:17 PM.