Wichita city manager, former police chief address investigation into officers’ racist texts

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WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – As the investigation continues into text messages exchanged between a group of Sedgwick County deputies and Wichita police officers that contained racist, homophobic and sexist messages and memes, we’re now hearing from the Wichita city manager and former police chief.

In April of 2021, 11 Wichita police officers were investigated by the Wichita Police Department and the FBI investigated the matter. The investigation has since concluded, and three of those officers are no longer with the department. Of the three deputies involved, one resigned and two retired.

Now, almost a year later, the City of Wichita is investigating.

In a sitdown interview on Thursday, Wichita City Manager Bob Layton said he was just recently made aware of the texts and does not recall ever being told about them in the past.

“I don’t have any recollection of being told about the investigation or results of the investigation,” Layton said.

Michael Schwanke sits down with Wichita City Manager Bob Layton who says he’s just recently learning about the text messages – nearly a year later.

Former Police Chief Gordon Ramsay said the city manager has known for months. He said he told Layton about the texts shortly after he found out about them.

Ramsay said, he, along with other people, talked with Layton about the investigation on multiple occasions. That includes the US Attorney’s Office, the FBI, several deputy chiefs, which Eyewitness News confirmed. It also includes the lieutenant supervising this case, the city law department, the city human resources department, the Citizens Review Board, community leaders, including Pastor Roosevelt Deshazer, the President of the Greater Wichita Ministerial League/God Squad, and, again, City ManagerRobert Layton.

Ramsay said he doesn’t understand why the city manager doesn’t “recall” those conversations.

“There wasn’t any doubt in my mind that he was aware of the HR manager’s concerns, and I knew he was previously aware of the case when I initially briefed him,” said the former police chief. “We worked very hard on community relationships and trying to get everything right. And in this case, we notified key stakeholders and tried to do everything right. And to hear that after notifying all these people and that the number of people involved in this that knew about it – and the manager didn’t? I think that says a lot right there.”

Layton maintains he doesn’t remember those conversations.

“…that’s why I checked with other people to find out, am I missing something? And I can’t find anyone in this building who were the people who were directly involved with police operations in terms of whether it was a person in my office who spends a significant amount of time with the police department, or it’s the HR director, or like I said, mayor and council. And none of us knew about it,” Layton said.

Ramsay said he hopes the list of people who were told will help jog the city manager’s memory.

“I was surprised he didn’t call to say ‘Hey, can you remind me of this incident.’ But I didn’t hear from him,” Ramsay said.

The city has brought in a third party to do an investigation.

Layton says his office will look at what should happen with the officers. In addition, the Citizens Review Board, which was made up of community members to review police concerns, is also looking over the details of this case.

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