Over the summer, former Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kateri Dahl filed a lawsuit against Johnson City’s Police Department. Nothing has been settled at this time, but the police department made this statement:
“It is understandable that some in our community may be alarmed by recent allegations against the Johnson City Police Department. Serious allegations have been made, and we ask that everyone reserve judgment until all the facts can be presented.”
Dahl is accusing the department of falsely firing her by formulating complaints against her. She believes the reasoning behind her firing is because she continued to urge Police Chief Karl Turner to investigate the rape allegations under the, currently anonymous, business owner ‘Robert Voe’.
Dahl thinks that Turner may be protecting the man due to a corrupt connection or inability to admit the department’s mishandlings of the investigation.
Johnson City has hired a third-party-led investigation, Daigle Law Group, to look into recent sexual assault cases that have been filed at the JCPD. They will be assessing the department’s dealings with these cases and if they violate any policies or national standards for law enforcement.
The city is encouraging people to submit any information on the JCPD’s handlings of sexual assault cases to Daigle. Daigle is coming into this investigation as an independent party, so hopefully they will be able to uncover any possible corruption within the police department.
This investigation terrifies me because the JCPD is ultimately in charge of keeping our campus safe. College students are frequent victims of sexual assault, and these allegations are not comforting. No person should be deprived of the justice they deserve.
The investigation is only in phase one and is expected to be so for the next six months. In the meantime, do everything you can to stay safe.
