Below is a letter I wrote to Keene Policeman Peter “Sturdy” Thomas, about my camera and the armed men who showed up outside my house at 3am knowing I was in jail. I feel the actions of several Keene Police have devastated the integrity of the Keene Police as an organization, and I am posting this to ensure their interactions will at least be public, so you can see what they are doing with your money.
Yesterday I called Ken Meola, Keene Police Chief per John Mclean’s request. I have not heard back yet, and here is the audio. I was put on hold, then they picked up and started talking, then I was hung up on. I called back, got transferred to records, and then was sent to Ken’s voice mail. (This is who is protecting you in an emergency)
Hi Peter,
Sorry for not getting back to you, as this is low priority given what’s happened in the last few days.
I really fail to see the point of this meeting. The camera was working (and recording) when it was taken from my hands. The last thing it recorded was Rivera throwing it down on the bench, the camera sliding across the bench, hitting the wall and bouncing off. Had one of my crew treated my equipment that way I would have fired them on the spot. Of course that didn’t stop Rivera from going on at length under oath about his concern for any potential damage to the camera.
I don’t understand what there is to discuss. The camera worked, there is documented proof of mishandling and potential damage by your agents within 60 seconds of taking it from me. It’s a used camera with normal wear and tear. However, it had never exhibited problems powering on or recording. Either you guys are going to pay for it or not. I really believed Ken Meola when he said they were going to treat me right.
However, it seems like this is gong to be dragged on and on, with endless meetings and discussions, aimed at wasting more of my time and money. I’m sure you realize locking people in cages, and harassing them with your procedures takes away their ability to provide for their family. Do you understand that you’re also ensuring they pay you to harass them?
I’m not getting paid to play games with the “subjects”, to lie under oath, destroy others property, and generally do whatever it takes to win. I think you fail to realize might doesn’t make right and words on paper don’t define morality. So if you would rather rely on the word of Eli Rivera that nothing else was done to the camera over the 6+ months KPD had it before I was able to see it, then that’s your choice. You and I both know Eli secreted the driving record search from the subpoena, and perjured himself under oath when he claimed everything was in the case file. He went on to claim no other searches, database queries, or documents existed outside of the case file, which I have documents proving this falsehood.
I spent 7 days in jail for his lies and your assistance in helping him cover up those lies. I understand why you want to keep this quite and handle it one on one. I also understand that KPD has some guys like you and Shane who are in policing for the right reasons, to help people. However, when you stand by and do nothing as corruption goes unchecked, it has the same effect as if you committed the crimes yourself. This is why in a robbery police charge the lookout with the same crime as the robber, because he took part in it.
If you don’t believe that is an accurate reflection of your behavior, then that’s great. I have another opportunity for you to rebuild some of your organizations’ integrity. I need assistance in determining who the two armed men were who came to house at 3 am Monday morning, knowing I was in jail. It appears they planned to either rob me or set me up, as they ran away like cockroaches when Meg turned the light on, and they realized someone was home. Perhaps this is all some misunderstanding, and they have some explanation for visiting my house at 3am and terrorizing my family? Let’s get to the bottom of this, and as Captain of Investigation and Uniform Patrol, your just the person to help. Please tell me:
- Who had a KPD police car checked out to them between 2 a.m. and 4a.m. on Monday morning?
- Who was on duty between 2a.m. and 4a.m. on Monday morning?
- Were any two officers working together at any point between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. on Monday morning?
- How can I review and get a copy of the chat logs generated by the department on Monday between midnight and 6am on Monday morning?
When your employees start acting this way, the gloves come off. You have thrown your professional integrity as an organization under the bus and lost the ability to deal with me in any official capacity off the record. KPD can assume all interactions with me are recorded at all times, and they will have no expectation of privacy. If you insist on another meeting, it will be on the record with cameras, and I am mostly free Tuesday-Thursday next week.
And you wonder why I don’t want your gang of thugs knowing where I sleep at night?
Amazed,
Sam Dodson
