MOUND CITY - Serious allegations regarding the conduct of the Sheriff's Office were made at the Monday meeting of the Linn County Commissioners.

La Cygne Police Chief James Dean began his statement to the commissioners by noting that they have no real control over the Sheriff's Office, but he thought it was time they "were aware of what is going on."

Dean then told commissioners about a warrant that the Sheriff's Office executed in the City of Parker shortly after Sheriff Barry Walker took office. Dean alleged that the Parker Police Chief, Leroy McConico, was not notified the warrant was going to be served or asked to participate in its execution.

He then told commissioners of a meeting between the Sheriff's Office, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and the city agencies in which full cooperation between agencies was promised and the formation of a county- wide task force was discussed.

 "Since then, we've had some issues with backup," Dean told commissioners, then went on to note that one of his officers was called to a domestic disturbance and requested backup from the Sheriff's Office.

Dean further alleged that the S.O. had a deputy in Parker at the time of the backup request and the deputy "failed to acknowledge radio transmissions".

At a later point, according to Dean, his agency was working with one of the detectives to utilize one of his CI's (criminal informant) and the CI came back to Dean and informed him he would not work with the S.O. due to a leak of information.

"Earlier this month, one of my officers, Ernest Simmons, requested backup on a traffic stop where there was numerous people involved in suspicious activity," Dean stated, adding, "The dispatcher didn't even acknowledge he'd asked for backup. Fortunately for us, there was a trooper in the area and he responded."

Dean went on to note that in recent weeks his council approved the hiring of Paul Filla, a former sheriff's deputy, on a part-time basis and alleged that since then his department has been denied access to the dispatch area of the jail.

Dean then told of a meeting on Saturday, April 25, between officers of his department, (himself and Simmons) a KBI agent and Chief Detective Stone and Deputy Gardner of the Linn County Sheriff's Office, along with officers of the Linn Valley Police Department, regarding an ongoing six-month narcotics investigation.

"Saturday night, on their own, without notifying our officers, even though I had an officer and a reserve on duty," Dean stated, "Officer Hochhalter obtained a search warrant for a residence inside our city and deliberately did not notify us."

"He notified the Undersheriff and the decision was made between him and the Undersheriff not to notify us," Dean went on, "One of the officers, one of the deputies that was at that earlier meeting, was also involved in the execution of that warrant and we did not find out until afterwards."

"If this is the spirit of cooperation we're going to get from the Sheriff's Office," Dean stated, "this is not acceptable. It's unprofessional and certainly, under the circumstances, we should have been notified. I just wanted to make the commissioners aware of this because I see things getting even worse from here, as far as cooperation."

"This is very concerning to me," Dean added," this was not just an investigation of the La Cygne Police Department, this involved a state agency and they've ruined six months worth of investigation."

Dean informed the commissioners he had e-mailed the sheriff regarding the issues he had just spoken of and thanked the commissioners for listening, then exited the building.

Shortly thereafter, Chief Detective Stone arrived and Commissioner Pemberton asked if he had something to say.

"No, I just heard someone was down, bashing the sheriff's department," Stone replied, and then asked, "Is it something the sheriff needs to address?"

He was informed the individual had left and that he had e-mailed the sheriff regarding what he spoke about.

Commissioner Mike Page then noted that there were some concerns with cooperation of the Sheriff's Department.

"A local forum is no place to address police issues between each department," Stone said,

Pemberton noted that it would be a legal issue and their counsel would need to be present, then suggested that Stone put it on the agenda for next week.

"Well, I'm sure the allegations are not true," Stone replied.

"I'm not taking sides," Pemberton stated.

"I'm not either," said Stone, "It's unfortunate, but we don't need to be playing politics in law enforcement."

Commissioners suggested the S.O. take a few days to review the e-mail and discuss the issues with the complaining party and then noted that if they felt a need for mediation, to ask to be put on the agenda.