Ex-Wichita police chief accuses officials of wrongdoing; mayor calls him ‘disgruntled’

Former Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay is firing back after a city report blamed him and two deputy chiefs for mishandling an investigation and discipline of officers who sent racist and inappropriate messages.

In a letter hand-delivered Wednesday by a former deputy chief, Ramsay, without offering evidence, accused city officials of wrongdoing and said there was a “troubled culture” at the top levels of city hall.

He urged the City Council and mayor to have a forthcoming third-party investigation into police also look into complaints of corruption against human resources director Chris Bezruki and into police discipline cases that Bezruki overturned, without being specific.

Ramsay did not return messages from The Eagle or confirm that he sent the letter.

Mayor Brandon Whipple called Ramsay a “disgruntled ex-employee” and said he’s skeptical of Ramsay’s motivations. Ramsay, who resigned March 1, is running for sheriff in St. Louis County, Minnesota.

“The only story that we know for a fact that has been confirmed is the racist and homophobic messages among our officers and Ramsay didn’t punish them,” he said. “That’s all we know, that they got a talking to.”

Whipple’s statement is a significant break with the former chief, whom he has publicly supported on numerous occasions.

Bezruki did not respond to The Eagle’s request for an interview, but sent a statement through a city spokesperson saying he “categorically reject(s) the accusations” from Ramsay and is looking forward to having the third party examine the case so the “City can move forward from this painful incident.”

The third-party investigation, and the internal committee that released the report criticizing Ramsay, were announced the day after The Eagle detailed the racist and inappropriate messages sent by Wichita officers and the lack of punishment. The only officer suspended was one who called Ramsay a tool.

Ramsay, in the letter, said Bezruki’s presence on the committee was a “flagrant conflict of interest.” The committee report found that the police department did not “fully engage the City Human Resource Department and Law Department in their review of this misconduct.”

City Manager Robert Layton said Bezruki, who was one of nine people on the committee, didn’t write the report. Layton said he welcomed a thorough third-party investigation that looked into Ramsay’s allegations.

“We have to have integrity in this process. We have nothing to hide in that regard . . . (the third-party investigation is supposed to be) a cultural assessment but as part of that I am more than happy to include relationship issues, especially if they are undermining the process.”

Ramsay had previously said he told Layton about the messages, but Layton has denied that. A records request by The Eagle turned up no email communications from Ramsay notifying Layton.

Layton and Whipple said they weren’t sure what Ramsay meant by some other allegations in the letter. One of those was urging elected officials to make sure the third party report directly to them because he had “witnessed past requests for information manipulated, information let out and consultant reports changed to fit the requested narrative.”

Whipple said no report like this was done under Ramsay’s tenure. He said Ramsay was trying to shift attention from his handling of the case.

“He is still concerned about this and wants to keep stirring this up,” Whipple said. “Focus on your race (for sheriff), we are focusing on the problems here in Wichita and we are going to fix the problems in Wichita.”

Whipple said the third party would take a deep dive into police issues.

“This is someone who’s an apparently disgruntled ex-employee now coming in saying that ‘don’t worry about the police department it’s really these folks that should be investigated,”’ Whipple said. “We’re doing a deep dive into everything that touches the police department. We’re going to make sure that everyone who has had fingers pointed at them during this gets investigated because we want to figure out where the problem was, why the stories didn’t add up.”

The city is accepting bids for the third-party investigation. Proposals are due June 3.

Contributing: Chance Swaim with The Eagle

This story was originally published May 18, 2022 at 5:39 PM.