Tells city commission that claims are simply false
By Barb Pert Templeton
When a letter recently surfaced online claiming Marine City Police Chief James Heaslip had committed a crime by destroying evidence in an assault case, he was certainly surprised.
In a phone interview on May 28, Heaslip said he knew about the letter, penned by a former Marine City police officer, but the incident took place in 2021 and the Michigan State Police dropped the matter after interviewing him in 2023.
Heaslip confirmed that the letter was recently posted on the Facebook page Marine City, Michigan by the victim in the 2021 assault case. Heaslip said there were many comments posted and his decision to talk about the issue at a recent commission meeting was to simply clear things up.
“This was a transparency thing to me,” Heaslip said. “The city manager knew about it but the commissioners hadn’t heard from me so I wanted it to be told in a public meeting.”
At the meeting on May 16, during reports from department heads, Heaslip addressed the commission to clear up the rumors about his conduct.
“There was something posted on Facebook that said I destroyed some evidence and the attorney general was investigating,” Heaslip said.
Two people are completing background checks and could be hired as new officers for the police department.
The backstory relates to an investigation he conducted in July 2021 regarding an assault at the now-closed, Hells Our Home Bar on Water Street. Heaslip characterized his work as a very thorough investigation and he even sent criminal charges to the prosecutor.
“The charges were ultimately declined, there was no witness to any crime whatsoever,” Heaslip said. “And we were told that if we found any other witnesses, to resubmit it for investigation.”
Chief agreed to take a polygraph
The officer that originally handled the complaint at the bar left the department in Marine City in 2021. He then filed the letter with the attorney general’s office making the allegation that the chief had destroyed evidence related to the assault case.
Heaslip said apparently the letter then sat on the attorney general’s desk for a couple years before it was sent to two detective sergeants with the Michigan State Police to investigate. The chief said they contacted him and then traveled to Marine City to interview him last summer.
“I agreed to take a polygraph, I agreed to do whatever they needed me to do because I knew there was no wrongdoing at all related to this case,” Heaslip said.
The letter sent in about Heaslip also stated that the officer had the chief on audio tape admitting he destroyed evidence. When asked to produce the recording the officer couldn’t provide it, Heaslip said.
“Ultimately, I was never handed any paperwork that was an official investigation; I was cooperative through the entire thing – well, the one time I actually talked to the detective sergeants through the MSP,” Heaslip said. “And then I (recently) made a phone call to inquire about it and they said ‘out of sight out of mind we forgot to tell you we closed this a long time ago.”
“So, there was nothing to it; those allegations were out there, the letter was out there, it got ugly I just want you to know there was no wrongdoing on my part,” Heaslip said.
Officials comment on the issue
City Manager Scott Adkins said it’s important to note that there was no correspondence or notification ever received by himself or the previous city manager indicating any type of investigation from the attorney general’s office or the state police.
“That is not how these things usually work, there is usually some type of communication sent, a phone call and letter to the city administration and (we) got nothing,” Adkins said. “So, this does bring a question into the credibility of this.”
City Attorney Robert Davis asked Heaslip what exactly was posted on Facebook about the situation. The chief said the actual original letter sent to the attorney general made it onto Facebook.
“The letter that went to the AG made it onto Facebook? How would somebody get that letter, I’ve never even seen the letter,” Davis asked.
“I don’t know,” Heaslip replied, adding that he found out about the letter from a former officer who contacted him and read it to him.
Davis asked Heaslip if he had the social media postings and he said no, he didn’t keep any of it. The attorney then asked if he knew who the citizen was that was posting the information and the chief said yes, he did.
“If anyone has any questions, I’ll be very forthcoming and honest. I don’t hide anything I’m as transparent of a guy as you can get,” Heaslip said.
During the commissioner privilege portion of the meeting, Commissioner Sean O’Brien briefly addressed the situation.
He said it is election season and with that comes “the joy of misinformation online” and he encouraged folks in the community to please verify stories they are sharing.
“Please don’t publish horrible allegations like this that are unfounded, this does damage to the community,” O’Brien said. “Attacking city staff, whether the department heads or whether the employees, is not right; probably attack us as commissioners, as the politicians, that’s more appropriate.”
Other police notes of interest:
During his update to the commission Heaslip also offered two other updates related to the police department.
- The Flock camera systems are now gone, every camera setup in town has been removed as the department found them just to difficult to work with and there were also issues with accuracy.
- Two people are in the background check phase of being hired as new officers for the department.
“I will be fully staffed for the first time in a couple years, so knock on wood with some good things to come with some good people,” Heaslip said.
