Greetings,
By giving the kind officers disciplinary action and demoting them for simply giving testimony at my appeal, Chief Adams clearly is knowingly attempting to dissuade several witnesses in court to retract their testimonies at the appeal proceeding, by using disciplinary action upon these men.
I would go even as far as to say that by doing so, he is also instilling fear in any other law enforcement member who might think of giving testimony that isn't specifically ordered by himself.
First of all, I'd like to point out that Chief Adams never prevented any of us from taking part nor testifying in your appeal, Mr. Swindle. His only concern was using VCPD signatures as if we were talking on behalf of VCPD as a whole which is the case with my own recommendation letter. Such action is considered to be violating the Chain of Command which lead to disciplinary actions being taken. However, Chief Adams kept insisting that everyone has the right to have their own opinion and express themselves the way they like.
I wasn't treated unfairly by Chief Adams, the warning I received could have been avoided if I consulted the command beforehand so it was fair enough.
In short, I received that warning because I signed with my VCPD rank not because of my words themselves.
As for my letter, I was asked for a recommendation letter for Mr. Swindle as a fellow officer and I wrote it with sincerity and I genuinely meant every word I said. These words came from my experience with you on the field and have got nothing to do with the case itself as I almost know nothing about its details.
However, I'm a bit concerned about this complaint of yours. How I'm feeling is that your prior dispute with VCPD/FBI was the motive that led you to file such complaint against Chief Adams, since to me he didn't break any laws by requesting that
only the testimonies issued on behalf of VCPD (as an organization) to be invalidated (aka mine and hazard's).
He had no problems whatsoever with Captain Arthur "Nylez" Williams' testimony which I believe got the strongest words in your defense. Yet you're here pointing fingers at Chief Adams saying that he broke the law, when he just did what was supposed to be done.
My advice for you is to focus on your main appeal and try to avoid getting dragged into side business that won't benefit your case in my opinion. I wish you all the best.