NBrid

TRUE STORY: a letter taken from private email with permission from author.

Hello,

My name is Joann Wood and I have a matter which
needs urgent attention. On 7-13-06 I filed a 911
police case report about a man who entered my home and
threatened me after he became agitated over leather
furniture I had listed in the paper. The 911 call was
actually made on 7-12-06, but I did not fill out a 911
report on 7-12-06 because one of the city police
officers, Officer Burkhart, knew the man who
threatened me and refused to let me fill out a proper
incident report. Instead of allowing me to fill out a
police report since I was the one who called 911 about
the intoxicated man, Officer Burkhart counseled his
friend, Jimmy and told him he would even help him fill
out a civil dispute form, signing the civil report as
a witness. I had to contact the chief of Police, Frank
Simons to have another neutral police officer who did
not know Jimmy and his wife to visit me the next day
to take down a police report for the 911 call I made
on 7-12-06. Chief of police Frank Simons was
understanding about my situation and assigned Sgt.
Wheeler who took the police report which is now case #
060702342 through the Valdosta City Police. My main
problem is that on 7-12-06 a civil dispute was filled
out and then signed by Officer Burkhart who stood as a
witness for his friend Jimmy, instead of taking a
proper 911 incident report from me. I have never
called 911 and not filled out a report before, so I
knew something was wrong here. I have been advised by
my family attorney that the police case filled out on
7-12-06 (case # 060702212) is a violation of the
CONFLICT OF INTEREST Law in the state of Georgia
because it was filled out as a personal agreement
between the officer Burkhart and Jimmy license plate
58275QA who are friends while off duty. The police
case 060702212 taken on 7-12-06 only stands out as a
violation of conflict of interest and should be
reviewed by Georgia Officials before it is removed or
altered by Officer Burkhart or anyone else acting on
his behalf through the City Police Department. I would
like officials to investigate this matter and police
case # 060702212 before notifying the police
department of my complaint about the conflict of
interest involved. I do not think anyone should be
given time to delay justice in this matter as far as
an investigation goes. I appreciate your work and
would like any advice or direction you could give me
as to where I should report this concern if I have
submitted it in error to you. I feel threatened by
Jimmy 58275QA after hearing him tell me I was lucky to
have called the police when I did, and by his
friendship with Officer Burkhart who arrived at my
residence for the 911 call I made. Thank you for
reviewing my concern.

Sincerely,

Joann Wood