COWETA, Okla. — The Coweta Police Department announced it will be calling in state investigators to help address multiple claims that students have been victims of sexual misconduct at Coweta Public Schools.
Coweta Police Chief Mike Bell said his small agency has done its best, but is worried they may have missed some things.
“There are questions we need to ask ourselves: did we complete the reports? Did we get all the victims and suspects? We’re reviewing them to make sure we did.”
On Wednesday, Chief Bell held a press conference to address the potential sexual assault incidents at Coweta Public Schools that people have been bringing up on social media.
Chief Bell said he hears the parents and the students who have now voiced what’s going on within the district when it comes to these juvenile-on-juvenile crimes.
The chief said he’s not only addressing the issue as a law enforcement officer, but also as a father of two students in the district.
“Right now, I’m hurt. I’ve got a fourth grader and a third grader in these schools. My promise to these parents is if something bad happened to your child, we’re going to figure it out and fix it.”
He said his agency has done several investigations related to sexual crimes over the years at Coweta Public Schools.
Chief Bell said his officers at the schools completed these investigations as thoroughly as possible before they were turned over to Wagoner County or tribal prosecutors.
However, following the recent questions into the handling of these incidents, the department is reviewing around 10 to 15 investigations they’ve done over the last calendar year to make sure they didn’t miss anything.
At this time, Chief Bell said three of these investigations are currently open. One of the cases is at the elementary school and the other two are at the junior high.
On Friday morning, outside investigators and councilors will be at the Coweta Baptist Church on State Highway 51 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
These agencies will allow parents and children who have been involved in any of these crimes and who feel like they weren’t heard—or who may not have reported their incident yet—to come and speak to someone regarding their case.
“To allow the parents and the children that have been involved in any of these crimes or feel like they weren’t heard or maybe a crime that wasn’t reported to us, they’re going to come in and help us out,” said Chief Bell at Wednesday’s press conference. “This is just a chance to allow these parents to be heard again along with the children by an outside agency. That may be because they don’t have trust in the Coweta Police Department. We understand. We hear that. We understand that. We’re okay. We’ll bring in an outside agency to help us with this situation.”
Bell said he is committed to improving transparency and rebuilding trust between the department, the schools and the community.
“At the end of the day, you have my promise as the chief that we’re going to fix whatever issues may be out there. If policies need to be changed, I’ll change them. If school resource officers need to be changed, I’ll change them.”
Wagoner County District Attorney Jack Thorp released a statement on Wednesday announcing a liaison program that’s set to enhance effective communication between state and tribal law enforcement, prosecutors and school districts.
You can read the full statement released by Thorp below:
