Battle over leaked Larry Wilder photos expands in Southern Indiana

Clark County

Discussion

June 25, 2009

Wilder calls for officers who distributed photos to come forward

By MATT THACKER The News and Tribune Thu Jun 25, 2009, 02:06 PM EDT

Photographs of attorney Larry Wilder passed out in a trash can likely were taken from a computer at the Jeffersonville Police Department, loaded onto a disk and taken out of the city building, said Jeffersonville Communications Director Larry Thomas.

Thomas said he met with Police Chief Tim Deeringer on Tuesday, and he said the police officers on scene acted correctly when they took photographs and loaded them onto the police department computer as evidence.

“We have already confirmed that the photos were not sent from within the Jeffersonville Police Department or City Hall,” Thomas said Wednesday.

Because of limited access to the computers, he believes someone from within the department must have copied the images and taken them off-site. The internal investigation is ongoing.

Wilder — who said Wednesday he was resigning as attorney for the city council and Greater Clark County Schools board — said he holds no animosity toward JPD, but wants the officers who distributed the photographs to “stand up and take credit for what they did.” He said he does not want the officers fired or even disciplined, but wants to ask them why they released the photos.

“They’re hiding behind the FOP like cowards because they think they did something wrong,” Wilder said. “Be a man and take responsibility for your conduct.”

He argues that if they did nothing wrong, they should come forward.

The release of the images has led to a dispute between Mayor Tom Galligan and the Fraternal Order of Police. Galligan held a press conference Sunday and criticized “renegade” officers who took and distributed the photographs. He also apologized to Wilder’s family.

“Earlier this week, one or two officers ignored [their] oath and allowed their personal or political motivations to interfere with their work,” Galligan said Sunday.

The Fraternal Order of Police lodge 100 held a press conference Wednesday morning to respond to the mayor’s statements. Members were joined by leaders of the FOP lodges for New Albany and Floyd County and the Jeffersonville firefighters’ union.

“For the mayor, using only assumptions, to publicly prejudge and call the officers renegade, we feel is inappropriate,” said Joseph Hubbard, president of the FOP lodge.

Thomas said Galligan decided to issue an apology because the mayor’s own children have seen their father publicly criticized, and so Galligan knows how difficult this is for Wilder’s children. Thomas said the mayor also does not want people to be fearful that police officers may try to embarrass them.

Paul Haub, president of lodge 99 in New Albany, said members of his lodge were “disturbed” by the mayor’s comments and thought it was “unprofessional” to accuse any police officers of being out of control without having evidence.

“Jeffersonville police officers are some of the best I’ve ever worked with,” Haub said. “I’m not saying the police officers deserve a special break or even the benefit of the doubt, but they deserve due process.”

Hubbard said any disciplinary action should be decided by the newly established police merit board. Galligan had previously said the leaked photos was a matter for him to handle.

Conrad Moorer, a local pastor who serves on the merit board, said board members will address any situation that comes before them, but did not want to specifically address the Wilder case.

“The way I understand the Indiana state code is that basically there are some things within the department can be done, but significant things would be handled by the merit board,” he said.

Moorer said the department might be able to suspend an officer without going before them, depending on the type of suspension. He declined to comment on his thoughts about the leaked photographs and said board members will wait to hear the facts.

“The beauty of the merit board is that it’s a very public system,” Moorer said.

The next merit board meeting is scheduled for July 9, but Moorer said it would be an organizational meeting as the board is still being established. The five-person board was formed in December.

Thomas said the investigation may never even get that far. He says Deeringer believes they may never know who distributed the photographs. Even if they do, the investigation may determine that there was no violation of procedures.

Thomas said the police department is looking into developing written procedures for situations such as this one.