City Council Lies to Public and to My Family.

I have been told for over 2 months now to contact Fidelis Group and Mayor Fitch assured the public that Fidelis Group would handle their complaints.  But after the reply I got today, I feel that i have been deceived and lied to.

Mr. Eccles—Since we have been focused on internal operations and activities and speaking with Police Officers, we forwarded your information directly to Chief James Smith, who advised us that he would have someone look into your problem.  In case you weren’t aware of it, the Lawton Police Department has a long-standing written policy, LPD Directive 11-5.130, that enables citizens to file written complaints against any of its officers.  The policy provides that all complaints against, or allegations of misconduct committed by LPD officers will be investigated, whether initiated by employees of the department or by citizens.  The policy further provides citizen complaint forms can be picked up at the police department, downloaded from the police department website, or emailed to the citizen.



Fidelis Group, LLC
9500 Westgate Road, Suite 102
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73162
405/722-6110 (fax)

So after this reply, I have sent a letter to the City Council, Mayor, City Manager, and several others.

Council, Mayor, City Manager;  I have been trying to address an issue about LPD and the Chief for months now to the Council and have been hit with road blocks every time. I presented my case in the form of a letter and attached documents on November 5th with the goal of addressing the Council, but was told that I can't because LPD was now under investigation, and again on the 19th. I just want to have my case seen and at most an apology from LPD and/or acknowledgement that Chief could have handled the case in a more professional manner, and to make this a lesson learned for those involved.  No victim of a crime should have had to experience what my family had to experience and is continuing to experience with the shuffle of responsibility to handle my case.

Now Fidelis just handed over my case/complaint about Chief Smith directly to Chief Smith..... They must not have even read my whole complaint, because why would they give the complaint to the person I am complaining about?  Why would I fill out a complaint form against the Chief, when no one on LPD has the authority to reprimand him?

So my biggest fear has come true, that this was just way to silence the community, especially all the citizens that were upset with the way the attempted child abduction cases were handled.  I feel I have been lied to by the detectives, the Police Chief, and now the City Council.   If the City Council will not listen to me, then I can safely assume that the Council will not listen to any other citizen.  If the city attorney won't let any of you talk with me about my case, then where do I go? I have been respectful and very quiet since I got my van back up until now...I should not have to go back to the media again to be heard.

Matthew Eccles