Broken Arrow Police Chief Says City Letter Orders Him Silent While on Leave

Broken Arrow Police Chief Lance Arnold spoke to reporters as a private citizen about being placed on administrative leave. His attorneys say that before the event, he received a letter from the city directing him to make no further statements.

Attorney D. Mitchell Garrett Jr. addressed the letter directly. He said it instructs Arnold to make no further statements, personally or through others, for the rest of his leave. "I'm going to tell you, they can tell their employees what they can do. They cannot tell me what they can do," Garrett said.

Arnold did offer a brief statement. He said his family found out about his leave from media reports before he had the chance to tell them himself. "My wife and my two sons read it on their phone before I could even get home and tell her myself," he said.

The chief also spoke about the investigation. "I want a fair investigation and I intend to cooperate with it," Arnold said. He added that he will attend the city's interview and answer its questions, has preserved everything the city asked him to preserve, and will follow the directions the city has given him during his leave.

According to Arnold's attorneys, the city has not told the chief what he is accused of. They also noted that open records requests from their law firm and from several news organizations, including KJRH, have not been fulfilled.

Garrett said many parties have requested an email package related to the matter. He said it has been released to one media outlet, and that his side has asked the city to post it on its website and provide it to all other outlets.

On Monday, Garrett issued a statement to the media responding to the leave. He said Arnold acknowledged a policy violation in a March email and accepted ultimate responsibility for it. Garrett said the department later retrained officers on warrantless arrests and entries. He also said the city has not given further details about the allegations or the policies at issue.

2 News Oklahoma contacted Broken Arrow city offices for comment. City officials said that because the investigation is ongoing, they had no comment at this time.