This blog is dedicated to exposing and documenting misdeeds and misadventures of departments and employees of the city of Little Rock, Arkansas. [news@snarkymedia.com/ 501-487-1699]
A Snarky Media Group publication
LRPD cop Brandon Middleton was featured in a recent story on a local television station about LRPD's newest public relations gimmick, "Operation Ceasefire".
What most don't know is that Middleton has a history of domestic violence and other troubling behavior, including showing up drunk for work and being a documented liar.
We had long complained about all the LRPD cops branded liars by LRPD that remain on the public payroll and the problem that creates as they are Brady Cops. You can check out the LRPD Liars List by clicking here.
It is ironic that Middleton is schlepping around trying to get folks to sign a pledge to stop violence given his background. Wonder if he gives a testimonial to folks about his own personal experiences with violence?
His estranged wife, we say that as they are in the process of divorcing, called 911 on June 6, 2019 to report Officer Middleton battering her.
As a result of the incident an internal investigation was opened.
No doubt the cops that responded to the call had Middleton's back. Look at this document.
At first Mrs. Middleton was very cooperative with the investigation. She even provided details about previous instance of his physical abuse.
But as many LRPD cop wives and girlfriends/baby momma's have done in the past, they stop cooperating or are unwilling to assist in the prosecution of the abuser because if convicted, these abusive cops would loose their jobs and the child support they would receive would be much less than if they remained on the job as a cop.
Notes in the internal investigation file indicate that Mrs. Middleton would not cooperate with the Prosecuting Attorney in the prosecution of her husband.
After the completion of the internal investigation, Middleton only received a 24 hour suspension and mandatory anger management classes.
Cops like Middleton is one of the reasons citizens of Little Rock have little trust in the Little Rock Police Department.
Lt. Michael "Lil' Bang" Ford, Jr. - Supervisor of the LRPD FOI Unit
In a response to a Freedom of Information request we made to the Little Rock Police Department for a Internal Affairs investigation file, the LRPD FOI Unit not only failed to protect the identity of a Confidential Informant ("CI"), they provided the Social Security Numbers of a witness, a former LRPD cop and two current LRPD cops.
The Arkansas Attorney General has long opined that the personally identifiable information LRPD released to us is in fact exempt from release.
So when we found that the Internal Affairs Investigation file we requested revealed the identity of a confidential information that had worked with LRPD and the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office we were shocked.
One of the documents listed the Social Security Number of a witness.
NOTE: We placed a green rectangle over the Driver's License number and SSN of the witness. On the document LRPD provided they were clearly visible.
The documents included on that displayed the SSN of a disgraced, former LRPD cop Tina Moore.
They also leaked the SSN of two current LRPD cops - Clark Sheffield (one of the cops on the LRPD Liar's List) and Eric Hedgecock. Additionally LRPD leaked that both cops had been orally reprimanded for departmental violations.
Disciplinary actions that do not result in a suspension or termination are not subject to release under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
We can't be certain if proving us with these confidential records was intentional or inadvertently released due to incompetence.
We asked the mayor, police chief, city attorney and the two cops for comments about the release of these records. No one responded.
We will introduce you to the members of the LRPD FOI Unit in an upcoming post.
###
***UPDATE- 06/19/21***
Apparently LRPD does not make notifications to their employees when they for whatever reason release exempt information in a FOI response.
We provided notification to the city and LRPD of the release of exempt information. We requested copies of the notification sent to the individuals that had their exempt information provided to us.
LRPD said they had no records to provide. That means they did not apprise these individual that they had given us their SSN's.
Then on Friday June 18th, we got a call from Lt. Michael "Lil' Bang" Ford. He wanted to know which of their FOI responses contained that SSN information.
We suspect he asked so that they can "discipline" the employee that provided the SSN's.
We also told him that we had been provided personal email addresses of several LRPD cops in another of their FOI responses.
Their bucket has a hole in it at the LRPD FOI Unit. Wait until you see the post about the individuals that are assigned to that unit.
A city of Little Rock employee told a citizen that her name was "confidential".
We did some sleuthing and discovered the "confidential" name of the public employee. It's Amy L. Sinks.
Sinks is employed as a Court Administrator at the Little Rock District Court, 3rd Division, Environmental and Small Claims. The Judge elected for that seat is Mark Leverett.
From other public records we located it appears that Sinks was once a probation officer for the Little Rock District Court, 2nd Division.
We also used readily available public resources to gather more public information about this "confidential"public employee.
Sinks is registered to vote as a Republican.
She and her husband own a home in West Little Rock.
LRFD employees Phillip Prater and Casey Reep were the demolition derby drivers
Russ Racop - May 25, 2021
On Thursday, May 20th, two Little Rock Fire Department apparatus (the work LRFD prefers to use for a fire truck) slammed into each other at the intersection of University and 28th Street.
Six firefighters were taken to the hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.
A LRFD spokesman said the engines were responding to the same call on Broadmoor Drive that came in at 4:24 p.m., but he would not give any other information about the call.
According to a witness, one firefighter was trapped inside of one of the trucks for a few minutes. That firefighter was not identified.
Details of the accident are laid out in the accident report.
The city refused to provide the names of the two LRFD firemen driving the trucks, saying they were subjects of an investigation.
We did not let that slow us down. We went to straight to LRPD and obtained a copy of the accident report via an in-person Freedom of Information request and took photos of the report pursuant to Motal vs. City of Little Rock, 2020 Ark. App. 308.
The driver of the truck that struck the other was Phillip Prater.
LRFD firefighter Phillip Prater - Driver of truck 2 that ran into the other truck
Prater has a history of some disciplinary actions at LRFD. More on that in another post.
The driver of the other LRFD truck was Casey Reep. More about Reep in that upcoming post.
LRFD firefighter Casey Reep - Driver of truck 1
The accident report indicate that Prater appears to have gone through a red light and hit the truck Reep was driving.
A LRFD employee told use that it would cost from $600,000 to $700,000 to replace each truck.
At a recent city Board of Directors meeting LRFD Chief Delphone Hubbard told board members that his department needed to replace around six fire trucks.
It looks that the number of trucks needing replacement has gone up to eight.
