Former Wister Chief of Police Brandon Cooper officially resigned his position with the Wister Police Department on Friday and posted the following information/message on social media.
Today in Fort Smith broke the story on the initial firing back on July 18. You can read the original story by clicking here:
https://www.todayinfortsmith.com/post/fired-wister-police-chief-says-he-was-targeted-by-two-board-of-trustee-members-in-ouster
This is Cooper's statement:
"This is by far one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.
First of all, I want to thank you all for the love and support that you have shown me and my officers during this trying time. Since September 1st, 2021, being Chief of Police hasn’t been the easiest job to do, but having you all in my corner, made every obstacle well worth it. The most rewarding part of my job was getting to know and serve the citizens of Wister.
As of Friday August 5th, 2022, I officially resigned as the Chief of Police of Wister Police Department. This is not something that I wanted to do, but something that had to be done at this point.
We all know the chaos the Board of Trustees (except Carla Pride) has been putting me through. The more recent developments are a result of them covering their butts for screwing up the first time and forcing me to have to meet with the two trustees that are completely against me (as a condition of my potential termination). I would like to clear the air on a few things before I go.
First, the car issues:
***The Chief truck was wrecked on the passenger side due to a blow out. I was responding to assist Heavener PD with a drunk individual who was wielding a knife. Kids called 911 and then 911 lost contact with the kids. I’d say that is an emergency! En route, the passenger rear tire blew causing me to slide into the guardrail at Wister Dam. I informed the mayor, had an Oklahoma State Trooper conduct the collision report, called OMAG (our insurance), etc. All was handled according to policy and procedure. Oh, and I lived through the whole deal.
***The White Charger was wrecked when a felon ran from Sergeant Booth. The truck was stolen, he had a stolen LOADED firearm, drugs, and warrants. We did our job like we are trained to do and he went to jail afterwards. Yes, the car was wrecked, but my officer walked away with his life still intact and a felon behind bars. This is also the same Charger that I was informed about some front end issues and tried to get them fixed. Council members were informed and I did as much as I could with the $500 limit that is imposed on the police department. Anything over $500, we have to ask permission from the Board of Trustees.
***The Blue Chargers had a list of issues that ranged from the front end, to the motor, to the rear end, and back. The very last thing I was able to do was have the Dodge Dealership do a full inspection to let me know everything that was wrong with one of them. It had $11,500 worth of issues. So you can imagine the other blue charger with a motor that was starting to make the car feel like it was jumping up and down and blowing smoke out the tailpipes, was going to cost to get fixed. The council instead elected to spend $8,000 to have A1 Auto use both Chargers and make one good unit out of them. One unit had 99,000 miles and the other had just peaked past 100,000 miles. Those units, are still sitting at A1 Auto and have barely been touched. (So much for having them ready if a few weeks)
***The Tahoe: when all the units were depleted. Shady Point Police Department was generous and donated a used Tahoe. Yes, i was told that it had some issues, so I knew I would have to spend some money to get it completely road worthy for my officers. But it gave them something to drive in the meantime. The council knew of all of this, but still wouldn’t approve to fix it. Two weeks after having it, the transmission went out. Back to just having the Chief truck. In the end, we were all having to drive our personal vehicles to and from work and share the Chief truck. If I wouldn’t of done this, then I would of been working without any relief. It’s sad when you get a call in the middle of the night and you have to drive your personal car to the pd to jump in the truck and THEN respond the to emergency. This is how it stayed until the first termination on July 15th.
Charges on a council member:
In March 11th, 2022. We lost a family from Wister in a car accident and I was helping troopers deliver death notices. Then I ended up doing CPR on a gentleman who we ended up losing, so I was feeling the failure part of my job. A council member had tried contacting me at around 4:00pm and I didn’t answer.
My shift was almost over and I didn’t feel like talking. The next day I came into my PD and noticed some things were out of place. A chair next to the front desk that was never there, everything moved on the counter and held down with the weight of a stapler, and another chair on the other side of my front desk was turned. I began looking through video footage and around 4:00pm on the camera,
I observed the councilman in the PD. He did what he did and left. Mind you, all the doors to my PD were locked and I, along with my officers, are the only ones with access. So how’d he get in? He had the door locked between the city hall and the PD jimmy’d so he could come in. I did my job and sent a report for breaking and entering to the DA’s office for review. To this day, nothing has been done to my knowledge.
After my termination:
The day after our terminations, citizens told me that Max and Steven apparently came in and had all the locks changed in the PD. I am sure they unplugged the cameras inside the PD so that nobody could see what they were doing. I had a camera in the Evidence Room so that it would catch anybody that came in. If that camera is no longer active, then somebody other than law enforcement has entered the evidence room which is illegal and compromised all the evidence in the Wister PD.
This decision didn’t come easy, but it has to be done.
I want to thank both my officers, Shawn Booth and Frank Cardoza for standing with me and pushing through all this with me. You both were extraordinary officers and I am proud to have served the Town of Wister with y’all! Best of luck in your future gentlemen!
Residents of Wister: keep speaking out, keep making your voices heard! April 4th, 2023 is still 8 months away and I will continue to watch AND eventually, I will be back! Thank you again for allowing me to serve you! "
Sincerely, Brandon Cooper
