Be open about Williams’ credibility issue

Trust in the police must start at the top. So it was alarming to learn last week, after the fact, that then-Police Chief Norman Williams was on a list of police personnel who could have credibility issues should they be called to testify in criminal cases, according to information The Eagle obtained from the city.

And “obtained” makes it sound easy, which it wasn’t. The Eagle had to pry documentation out of the city with multiple requests under the Kansas Open Records Act, then deduce from employment and other records that the newly retired chief had been among 26 police employees with past convictions or dishonest conduct that could be used in court to challenge their credibility.

Rather than be open about the so-called Brady-Giglio list and Williams’ apparent inclusion on it, city officials are showing a complete lack of transparency. They claim that the secrecy is a legal necessity because the list is a personnel matter. But KORA makes disclosure of personnel records discretionary – making it city officials’ choice to keep Wichitans from knowing about what is a matter of legitimate public concern.

It appears from the documents that the offense that landed Williams on the Brady-Giglio list was the filing of a false report. Department policy now calls that a firing offense, and the department no longer accepts job applications from those with convictions involving dishonesty such as shoplifting or theft. An attorney who has represented the police union also told The Eagle last month that several years ago Williams signed off on a policy under which officers with credibility issues would be restricted to “diminished” positions or put in roles in which they would not have to testify.

A union official told The Eagle last month that some of its members were on the list for minor crimes that occurred years before the officers were hired, and that some stemmed from internal investigations.

But in the absence of information about what Williams was doing on the list, citizens can only speculate as to what happened and whether it occurred decades ago or last year. Was it connected to his abrupt retirement announcement last month? City Manager Robert Layton says Williams “voluntarily retired.”

And where are the elected officials? Mayor Carl Brewer is on record as considering Williams a close, longtime friend. But that shouldn’t preclude him from recognizing the problem with the police chief being on a credibility-issues list. There are six other members of the Wichita City Council who could be expected to do more than shrug off such a revelation, especially during this post-Ferguson time of heightened scrutiny of the relationship between officers and residents in parts of Wichita.

Again, this is not a clerical worker or rookie cop. It was the chief – the man responsible for overseeing 840 employees, an $80 million budget and the public safety of a city of 386,000 people.

A police chief should be expected to maintain the highest possible standards of ethics and conduct, not be the beneficiary of a double standard.

Layton and other city officials should be more open about this blow to public trust. Doing otherwise will only taint the important work to come of reviewing Police Department procedures and of searching and hiring a new chief.

For the editorial board, Rhonda Holman

This story was originally published September 13, 2014 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Be open about Williams’ credibility issue."