Broken Arrow Police Chief Put on Leave After Letter Ordering Silence

Broken Arrow Police Chief Lance Arnold spoke to reporters Wednesday after being placed on administrative leave, hours after his attorneys received a letter from the city barring him from making further statements during his time off. Arnold addressed the situation as a private citizen.

Attorney D. Mitchell Garrett Jr. said the letter instructs Arnold to make no further statements, personally or through others, for the remainder 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 said his wife and two sons learned of the leave from media reports before he could 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.

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

Arnold's lawyers say the city has not told him what he is accused of. They also say open records requests from their firm and several news organizations, including KJRH, have not been fulfilled. Garrett said many parties have requested an email package related to the matter, which he said has been released to one media outlet. His side has asked Broken Arrow to post it on its website and release it to all other outlets.

On Monday, Garrett issued a statement addressing the leave. He said Arnold acknowledged a policy violation in a March email and accepted responsibility for it. The department later retrained officers on warrantless arrests and entries, Garrett said. He added that the city has not provided further details about the allegations or the policies involved.

Broken Arrow city officials said they had no comment because the investigation is ongoing.