Wichita police union denies having improper relationship with city HR director

The Wichita police union on Tuesday condemned the letter threatening a lawsuit on behalf of former Chief Gordon Ramsay’s executive team.

The letter, which demands the resignation of City Manager Robert Layton and HR Director Chris Bezruki, as well as a $2.1 million payout, alleges that the Fraternal Order of Police lavished Bezruki with “gifts including expensive lunches” in exchange for favors.

“When WPD executive staff made decisions with which the FOP disagreed, the FOP leadership ran to Bezruki, and sometimes Layton, who would overturn those decisions,” the letter states.

The FOP response asserts that the letter “contains numerous false allegations and insinuations” about the union’s relationship with the city HR director, including the “insulting insinuation that the FOP was effective as a bargaining representative only because it bought off the City’s HR Manager with ‘expensive lunches.’”

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” the release states. “The truth is that FOP representatives had occasional lunch meetings (with a moderately priced menu) with the HR Manager in which the parties took turns paying for lunch.”

It says union representatives also met routinely over meals with Deputy Chiefs Jose Salcido and Chet Pinkston (a former FOP president), who along with former Deputy Chief Wanda Givens filed the legal demand letter with the city.

Salcido reported Bezruki to the FBI for allegedly accepting free dinners and gifts from the police union, the letter says.

Layton, who characterized the letter as inaccurate and outrageous, said an investigation into Bezruki did not find any inappropriate relationship or gifts from the FOP. “And we asked for evidence that would help us review that, and we have not been able to obtain that.”

According to the letter, the FOP convinced Bezruki to have Maurice Mitchell reinstated as a sergeant after he was demoted for slapping the buttocks of a female colleague during a training exercise. It also asserts that during the investigation into racist and inappropriate text messages sent by members of the SWAT team, Bezruki “parroted the position of the FOP, specifically claiming the actions of the officers were protected by the First Amendment” and therefore not punishable.

Bezruki has not responded to The Eagle’s requests for comment since the letter was filed Monday.

The union claims that lawyer James Thompson’s settlement demand demonstrates a “fundamental ignorance of Kansas law.”

“Mr. Thompson suggests that communications between FOP representatives and the HR Department amounted to corrupt practices,” it states. “The Kansas Legislature, in the Public Employer Employee Relations Act, created the right for public employees to select representatives to deal with their employers regarding grievances and other terms and conditions of employment.”

The union release does not directly address accusations that Bezruki allowed the FOP to interfere in the investigation of police shootings.

The FOP says leadership is “exploring all legal options to challenge these false allegations.”

This story was originally published September 20, 2022 at 5:08 PM.