• About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
26 °f
Platte
37 ° Fri
39 ° Sat
33 ° Sun
34 ° Mon
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
No Result
View All Result
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
No Result
View All Result

Police chief tampered with public record, state says

Ivan Foley by Ivan Foley
November 24, 2019
in Local News
4
SHARES
88
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare via Email

A state commission has determined that Ferrelview’s police chief tampered with a public record and should be disciplined for his action.

The disciplinary action–which is still to be determined–could be as severe as revoking his peace officer’s license.

RelatedNews

Things ‘just make sense’ for North Platte senior

Familiar face, familiar place

Questions/answers about the COVID-19 vaccine

The decision on a complaint against Daniel L. Clayton, Village of Ferrelview police chief, was reached on Nov. 6 by the Administrative Hearing Commission for the State of Missouri.

The matter involving Clayton, whose tactics as the police chief at Ferrelview often have been controversial for the past few years, will now be advanced to the Missouri Director of Public Safety for disciplinary action. The director will make the call on any discipline to be handed down to Clayton, age 33. Options include a suspension of his peace officer’s license or revocation of that license.

Despite several well-publicized incidents over alleged overly aggressive tactics in recent years, some that resulted in lawsuits being filed, Clayton has remained on the job as Ferrelview’s police chief, apparently still receiving the support from the current board of trustees at the village.

The Village of Ferrelview, population approximately 400, is located east of I-29 not far from the KCI Airport exit. Ferrelview had a population of 451 in the 2010 census.

Phil Gilliam, current chairman of the Ferrelview Board of Trustees, did not return phone messages seeking comment on the state’s ruling in the complaint against Clayton.

Meanwhile, Dennis Rowland, an attorney based in Kansas City who has represented many clients who had interaction with Clayton in his role as police chief, said he is not surprised at the ruling.

“The Administration Hearing Commission has confirmed what I have known through observations, and in reviewing numerous incident reports and verbal complaints and court documents since early 2016. Officer Clayton has little regard for rights of the general public or his basic obligation for ethical conduct of a police officer,” Rowland told The Landmark.

The commission determined that Clayton “impaired the verity of the citations” he wrote to a Ferrelview resident.

Rowland notes that the finding of the commission will make it very difficult–if not impossible–for Clayton to testify as a trusted witness in a court of law.

“Because he now has a reputation for ‘impairing the verity’ of citations he writes, his effectiveness and credibility as a police officer has become substantially diminished, basically zero. Any defense counsel will surely question his credibility in any subsequent actions in which he is involved by reference to this matter,” Rowland remarked.

Ferrelview’s municipal citations are now heard in Platte County Circuit Court after Ferrelview recently transferred its city court operations to the circuit court.

“This is unfortunate. Even after all the negative interactions between him, the general public and I, I could see that Officer Clayton still had potential. He has the basic ability and desire to become a meaningful member of any police force but he doesn’t seem to get beyond certain requirements expected of such a member, such as respect for the law and the basic rights of the general public,” Rowland noted.

“Because of his conduct, because he can no longer be considered credible, and for the protection of the general public, revocation of his commission appears to be the best remedy,” Rowland added.

FINDINGS OF FACT

The specific incident that now threatens Clayton’s career in law enforcement began on Jan. 25, 2016. Susanne Gilheaney was a passenger in a motor vehicle that Clayton stopped. Clayton arrested the driver. Gilheaney was subsequently arrested by Clayton, placed in handcuffs and transported to the Platte County Jail.

When Gilheaney arrived at the detention center, she provided her name and address to the booking officer at the sheriff’s office. From this, Clayton was able to get the number of her apartment building and the number of her apartment.

Gilheaney was not issued any citations on Jan. 25 or Jan. 26, 2016 while she was in custody at the detention center. She was released at about 8 p.m. on Jan. 26, 2016. Clayton, in his official incident report, noted that Gilheaney was “issued two citations for failing to obey a lawful order and resisting arrest and a court date was set for Feb. 7, 2016.” Clayton signed and dated the report Jan. 26, 2016.

On about Feb. 3, Clayton served Gilheaney two citations by leaving them in an envelope beside her apartment door. He signed both tickets and dated them Jan. 25, 2016, the date of the arrest.

Clayton stated in his report that Gilheaney was issued her citations on Jan. 25, 2016. But, the state ruled Clayton actually prepared the citations shortly before they were left for Gilheaney at her apartment door on Feb. 3.

Importantly, at the bottom of both citations on the signature line it states “refused (to sign) in custody.”

The state determined Gilheaney was never offered an opportunity to sign the citations while she was in custody because they were not prepared until several days later, and she never saw the citations prior to the time she was served them.

The “refused in custody” that Clayton had written on the signature lines initially confused an investigator with the sheriff’s department. Det. Nancy Penrod with the Platte County Sheriff’s Department reviewed the citations and initially believed Gilheaney was offered the chance to sign the citations but had refused to do so, based on Clayton’s note of “refused in custody.”

Penrod interviewed Clayton in 2016 in late February or early March. Prior to interviewing him, she advised him of his Miranda rights. During that interview, Clayton stated he wrote the citations about nine days after Gilheaney was arrested and that he did not offer Gilheaney an opportunity to sign the citations while she was held in the jail, nor did he offer her a chance to sign the citations on the date he “served the tickets on her.”

According to the state’s finding of facts, Penrod asked Clayton twice during the interview if the statement “refused in custody” that he wrote on the citations was a lie. The first time Clayton specifically stated in response that it was not. Clayton did not answer the question the second time it was asked, according to the state’s findings.

Clayton testified in front of the Administrative Hearing Commission that he did not fill out the citations issued to Gilheaney until approximately nine days after the date of the incident.

Tampering with a public record is a class A misdemeanor criminal offense, according to the state.

The state commission ruled that Clayton knowingly made a false entry on a public record “with the purpose to impair the verity, legibility, or availability of a public record.”

Four facts showed that Clayton acted with purpose, the state says.

First, in his report, Clayton used the date when Gilheaney was arrested and not the date he wrote the citations. Second, Clayton wrote on the citations that Gilheaney had refused to sign the citations while being held in custody, when in fact she was never given the opportunity to sign them.

Third, he wrote that Gilheaney refused to sign because she was in custody when she was not in custody when the citations were written. Fourth, he served the citations on Gilheaney by leaving them beside her apartment door instead of handing them to her.

“By doing all of this, Clayton impaired the verity of the citations and the report because it leads the reader to believe that something occurred on a different date and in a different manner than what actually happened.”

No timetable has been set for the director of public safety to announce a decision on the discipline to be given Clayton.

Tags: FerrelviewLawsuitsplatte countyPublic Safety
Ivan Foley

Ivan Foley

Ivan Foley is owner/editor/publisher of the Platte County Landmark. Foley has been on the news beat in Platte County with The Landmark for 38 years, specializing in local government issues and accountability journalism. He has penned multiple award-winning investigative pieces. He provides weekly observations and editorial commentary in his Between the Lines column and serves as host of Landmark Live, a light-hearted videocast featuring newsmakers and events in the Northland. During his time at the helm of The Landmark, the newspaper has been awarded on multiple occasions for General Excellence in the Missouri Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. In 2016, Foley won the Tom and Pat Gish Award, a national honor given by the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky for displaying courage, tenacity and integrity in rural journalism. A big fan of the Chiefs and Royals, Foley resides in Platte County not far from KCI Airport.

Related Posts

The Conspiracy Caucus

The Conspiracy Caucus

by Ivan Foley
January 22, 2021
0

It's sunny and expected to be 55 degrees today, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. I'm ok with that. I'm old enough to remember when we had big winter snowstorms. And I hope I didn't just jinx us. I think it's fair...

Karen

Dicks and Karens

by Landmark Digital Staff
January 22, 2021
0

EDITOR: Recently I had a "Karen" moment I'm not particularly proud about. Today, as I was reading Guy Speckman's article "Sedition and Snow Fleas," in the Jan. 13, 2021 edition of the Landmark, this excerpt made me laugh out loud....

Badges

Badges, Patrick and law

by Guy Speckman
January 22, 2021
0

Welcome to January 20th. You can now wear your Christmas gifts, without people knowing they were Christmas gifts. Enjoy. No one has asked me, but I'd leave all that fence and stuff up for Kamala's inauguration. How long will she...

45 Years Ago–January 23, 1976

by Ivan Foley
January 22, 2021
0

Mr. and Mrs. Daryl Grame of Platte City announce the birth of their daughter, Stacy Dee, on Jan. 15, 1976. She weighed seven pounds 11 ounces. The grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. Charles Grame, Platte City, and Mr. and Mrs....

Next Post
Parkville City Hall

Parkville paying PR firm to help it communicate

Popular News

  • Jakob Scroggins

    Things ‘just make sense’ for North Platte senior

    35 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9
  • Want the vaccine? Complete this survey

    13 shares
    Share 5 Tweet 3
  • Six candidates for two Park Hill positions

    10 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 3
  • Dicks and Karens

    10 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 3
  • Kevin Kietzman announces his plan

    251 shares
    Share 100 Tweet 63
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Call us at 816-858-0363

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Subscribe Online
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved