INTERESTING INCIDENT: FRANKLIN CO. (Royalton) COP ARRESTED, FIRED
FRANKLIN CO.–Royalton police officer Shawn Turner, 38, was arrested last week, reportedly in Eldorado, on a Franklin County warrant. He was subsequently fired from his job at the Royalton police department. (Our apologies for reporting Williamson…we didn’t have a map and were going by memory regarding where Royalton sat, and we made a mistake.)
Shawn Turner
He’s charged with Official Misconduct and Disorderly Conduct.
However, the circumstances surrounding the alleged incidents are making our bullshit detectors scream, complete with flashing red lights.
The charges read that he “committed criminal trespass to state-supported property, entering the Royalton Police Department’s locked evidence room on Oct. 15,” and that he “transmitted a report to state police Nov. 27 that accused the police chief (presumably of Royalton) of battery, excessive use of force and official misconduct while knowing ‘there was no reasonable grounds for believing such offenses had been committed.’”
No reasonable grounds? Then why go to that much trouble?
Turner might have just really overstepped his bounds (allegedly, of course) by trying to get his boss in trouble over something, for no good reason (as the charges say).
And then on the other hand…he might have been caught trying to bring to light something that he knows is going on, but no one will listen to him about it. We’ve seen it before: you try to call the state police on a high-level official (or even a low-level official) and suddenly YOU’RE the one getting stopped for imaginary traffic code violations, and the official is looking at you sideways every time he sees you…because he was tipped.
Granted, this didn’t happen with Raymond Martin…but it’s like we went through in north Edwards County/West Salem: when you’re not doing anything wrong but the cops are the ones laying in your ditches watching you, who do you call??
This story has all kinds of potential, but because mainstream media is scared of offending law enforcement and public officials, they won’t tell it.
We will…as soon as we have access to documents and start digging.
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Short URL: http://www.disclosurenewsonline.com/?p=1864
Posted by Jack Howser
on Jan 12 2010. Filed under Franklin.
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Wow, seems like someone might actually care what I have to say out there. What kind of documents you want? I have em all. Email me ill give ya my number.
By the way, not pulling my own chain but, just a rundown of my background. This all just blows my mind still. Over @ 500 dui’s lost a handful in 14 years. 12 stolen cars / 8 occupied/pursuits. 6 agg. Criminal sexual assault convictions with full confessions. Two burglaries in progress/suspects apprehended. Largest cocaine bust by a street cop in JC ever without an investigation my first shift there. Illinois top ten meth lab busts in 2004 with @ 5 gallons of meth oil found. Two rolling meth labs. Several 100 domestic battery arrests. And several other cases. And these idiots want to say I made this up? Please.
Praise God……………Someone out there can see a GOOD COP (SHAWN) being framed………….keep up the good work!
I am glad to see someone else that agrees with us! I have known Shawn Turner for 18 years now. He is one of the most straightest & honest police officer’s I have ever known. With that being said, let’s get into some facts! ISP and the media failed to mention the earlier events leading up to the arrest of Turner. For example, In May of 09 Turner was retrieving parts for his department issue AR-15 when he noticed that there was an estimated 15 lbs of marijuana in the evidence locker. When he asked about the marijuana he was told it was from an earlier bust! Hmmm, don’t u think that would be something that would have been plasterd all over the news?? That’s a bust that could make a small town cops career! Yet, no one ever heard anything about it. They also failed to mention that Turner had received a tip that there was some possible illegal activity going on within the Royalton police department. Turner followed that lead and obtained entry, along with another officer of the RPD, to the evidence locker and found the marijuana to be missing! Explain this one! When I worked for the Royalton police department I was told the key to the evidence locker was in the top drawer of the desk, the key was a flat head screwdriver and that’s how all of us got in it, I mean every officer. That’s how we got our evidence bags and everything else. They are just using this as an excuse to silence Turner due to what we believe was him getting too close to something!!!
Well the last thing to this I am going to state. I was NOT the ONE who opened the evidence locker. And NO direct order was given to the other officer to do so. He knows who he is, and HE knows who he is. If he does not come forward with the TRUTH and what he did himself I will disclose his name on this site. If he does not come forward on his own accord. I will not go down for something I DID NOT DO. Simple as that. There is a fine line between “brotherhood of the blue” and I will NOT lie about it. I’ll stake that on my oath to the people of the State of Illinois, the people I swore to protect and serve and I’ll die doing it. He has one week. If the moderator of this site will contact me I will give the officer’s name.
Here’s hoping that you come out on top…if it’s one thing I can’t stand it’s a dirty cop, or a big group of them in cahoots. It’s sad when your administrators spend more time tearing up tickets before they make it to the clerk’s office or trying to get people out of shit than they are trying to be actual law enforcement. I’m curious about how they fired you though…did they follow the municipal code when they fired you or did they just skip the process and can you?
Amen. It’s all over southern Illinois. Anyone that takes the chance to do something to try to get rid of a crooked cop gets a thumbs up in my book. If he was corrupt, hopefully his time will come. I guess we”ll see as the story unfolds.
The reasons I was suspended do not even come into issue with why I was arrested. Two totally different incidents. The reasons I will not discuss here and are irrelevant to this matter. But I will converse about it in email.
Well, here’s to hoping that whatever it is, the truth comes out and something is done about it.
Well, ill put it this way. The things I was suspended for were so miniscule compared other bs that occurred there and show me being suspended, fired and conveniently shows to me it was completely retalitory for me reporting the missing pot.
One of the things I find most interesting about this story is. . . . .
If you look on the Southern Illinoisan website, this is their MOST READ story. There are NO (0) comments! Actually, there is not even a discussion tab at the top or a place to leave a comment at the bottom of the article. The next “most read” has 13 comments right now and you can leave a comment if you would like.
Surely there can’t be two Saline/Harrisburg areas this close together.
Wasn’t there some kind of scandal in that area a while ago when either the police chief or fire chief’s home burned? I almost remember reading something that almost implied something wasn’t quite right. Then again, at my age lots of things don’t seem quite right. . . . even if I manage to remember them.
They’re probably not allowing comments. (Of course, they might now that this appears on our website.)
Here’s how mainstream media works: They won’t get out and do legwork and get the details of things for themselves; in most instances they can’t because they have employees that are hourly and it’s too costly. So they call public officials (prosecutors, police chiefs, sheriffs) and get the information from them, saving time and effort. It is, and we have called it for years, lazy journalism. In order to keep the info/articles flowing, MSM has to ‘get along’ with the people in positions of power. As a result, they can’t write anything that reflects badly on the public officials. Notice ALL the articles about this do NOT reflect any significant details. That’s why our bullshit detectors when off as soon as we saw this.
So the SI isn’t going to give you much, and they aren’t going to let anyone disparage the police chief in question, and they SURE aren’t going to let the paramilitary state police look bad in their ‘investigation’ of this, at least not this early in the game.
This was one of my main complaints with the Lawrenceville Police Department when I was sheriff in Lawrence County. They kept the wool pulled over the public’s eyes by never reporting crime thus giving the public the false perception that their town was crime free. I recall one night where there had been 14 burglaries and a car stolen in Lawrenceville but the only crime mentioned in the Daily Record was a burglary that took place out in the county.
When I attempted to discuss this with their chief he said “We can’t let this get out or it will interfere with our investigation” to which I said “Well, the crook knows it happened, the victim knows it happened, the police know it happened, the only people being kept out of the loop is the next victim! This information needs to be broadcast on the radio and printed in the paper so potential witnesses can come forward and people at risk can take precaution.” Using the media as a crime-fighting tool was not utilized mainly because Mayor Eddie Ryan was doing with the PD exactly what he did as sheriff, kept the public in the dark, and they still loved him.
The media can be a valuable tool. It can be used to disseminate information on suspects, make citizens aware of scams, etc.
Investigative reporting is also a good tool. There are those that would much rather talk with the press than the police. Maybe they want recognition or believe if they talk to the press, they are not ‘snitching’.
However this thing turns out, I only hope that it is accurately reported. The Disclosure has not slanted it one way or another; lets wait and see what happens.
We intend to not slant at all. Sometimes it’s hard to keep it right-down-the-line middle of the road, but we by god intend to try.
That’s all we can ask of you. A lot better than other publications….I’m interested to see an update on Mr. Turners case..
I have known Shawn Turner all my life. He has always been an honest, upstanding and God fearing person. He has taken gret pride in his career as a police officer. This case that has been brought against him is not true. The news media has NOT told the public the entire story. I’m hoping that the public will stand behind Shawn, a will my family, while the chief is exposed. Thank you for your support.
I sure love reading the crap on Topix. I know no women named “Jane”. I wasn’t “let go” from Sesser,I left for better salary in Jc. I quit Jc because I was lied to for months and part time officers were getting their hind ends kissed, myself and the other full timer were getting screwed and I quit because of favoritism, more like nepotism. I am so tired of it. Mandy on there is Jts (part time officer) girlfriend who continues to drink and smoke while she’s pregnant. Gabe is a part time cop who I pushed to help to get on the dept. because I thought he was legit and had the right heart to be a cop, boy was I wrong. I tell ya that whole thing makes me wanna hurle. Those people are nothing short of liars.
I am so glad that someone with investigative skills is involved in this incident. Shawn is a great guy. He was a great officer here in Johnston City. He took the time with the youth, instead of harassing them; he talked with them. He befriended my son and let my son see that not all cops are bullies or out to get the kids. We had an incident in which my son was attacked on our own property, right after pulling into our driveway, by a jealous ex-boyfriend of a girl he was seeing. Shawn was the responding officer. He was very professional, sympathetic and calmed the situation. My son is disabled and yet the other guy was never prosecuted, though he was lying in wait to beat my son. The case was dismissed before it even really started because my son could not speak loudly (he had gotten out of ICU approximately 2-3 days before testifying) and no one from the DAs office (another county) even talked to him beforehand. I even told the prosecuting attorney he was weak and still recovering. They had already decided what they were doing. Shawn was there to testify to everything and never even was called. There is corruption and back-scratching everywhere. It all depends who you are and who you know, in my humble opinion.
Anyone that knows Shawn, knows he has integrity, is honest and is a great person on and off the job.
I’ve known Shawn for a long while now, I have ALWAYS trusted,respected and found him to be a great police officer to not only work with but get together outside of work. Shawn always took that extra time to teach myself a rookie the proper way in law enforcement. Shawn is defiantly a “community police officer. I always wanted to run radar and nail “speeders”. One day Shawn looked at me and said “Bruce let’s do real police work” from that day on I always thought I’m glad. I had a great teacher. Shawn has always showed great pride in his career. So OFFICER TURNER.. Thank you !
just little inspiration
I may have not known shawn as long as the rest of you or anyone else…but what i have gotten to know him he is the nicest guy…and GREAT COP…he doesn’t have the attitude like most that he thinks he’s better than you…and why don’t they leave him alone and focus on the cops out there that are doing wrong and getting away with it…
[...] don’t know “suspect” of what. But this is beginning to sound like the brouhaha that went down in Royalton a few years back, wherein their police chief was reported to ISP for potentially taking things out [...]