SNYDER, OK – “He’s done more drug arrests, solved more crimes than anybody else in town has ever done,” Mayor Dale Moore said of Snyder Police Chief Tod Ozmun.So why is Moore weighing the option of dismissing Ozmun?
Ozmun’s wife, Doris, has appeared nude in photographs published on the Web, images which have some Snyder residents calling for their top cop’s dismissal.
“This came to light because some of the people in town went onto the internet to download pictures of her and started passing them out around the citizens here in town,” Moore said, according to a report on Omaha-based KETV.com.
Ozmun has made it clear that he will not resign, saying that his wife’s actions don’t affect his performance as police chief, and that Doris is a grown woman, free to make her own choices in life.
KETV cites unnamed Snyder officials as saying that Mayor Moore is requesting an investigation by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, although the power to request such an investigation lies with the district attorney’s office and not the mayor.
Such an OSBI investigation, should one take place, would center on whether city computers or other city property were used in producing the images of Ozmun’s wife, and if so, whether that use violates the city charter.
Residents of Snyder who want Chief Ozmun removed filed in to a recent city council meeting to discuss the situation, according to a report published by KTEN.com, but the council ultimately issued a statement saying that Doris Ozmun had violated no laws and was simply exercising her right to free speech. One council member, Sammy Gettens, resigned after the council refused to take action.
Snyder resident Bryan Norton told KETV he wants Ozmun fired, whether or not his wife’s actions are legal.
“When our kids come home from school telling us that the chief’s wife is a porno queen,” Norton said, “how do you answer that?”
