Winner top cop returns to work

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WINNER — Winner Police Chief Paul Schueth is back on the job after having his suspension lifted recently.

Schueth was suspended on Jan. 5 while the state Division of Criminal Investigation conducted a probe involving him. Mayor Jess Keesis reinstated him two weeks ago.

Roger Root, City Council president and member of the City Police Commission, said Keesis called a commission meeting and informed Root and fellow commission member Frank Finney that he was reinstating Schueth the next morning. The commission met Jan. 31, City Attorney Stan Whiting said.

The city council also voted on Jan. 24 for Keesis to reinstate the chief pending the results of the investigation. Schueth declined to comment when contacted by The Daily Republic.

“He’s been accused of nothing,” Root said of Schueth. “He was one of five or six people interviewed by DCI, but they didn’t point fingers or accuse him of anything or charge him with anything.”

Root noted Schueth is the administrator of the only city-owned jail in the state and a department that has 911 dispatching services.

Whiting said the DCI’s investigation stems from the August 2008 discovery of a surveillance feed from the county courthouse that was placed on a police department computer. County officials installed surveillance cameras around the courthouse in April 2007.

City officials learned of the incident while the city and county were discussing the jail contract for 2011 at a joint meeting in December, Whiting said.

The county rejected the contract offered by the city and the Tripp County Sheriff’s Office in December. As a result, 16 prisoners were moved from the Winner jail to other counties.

A new contract keeping the prisoner fee at $45 a day was approved on Jan. 11.

The prisoners were back in Winner, along with three others, the next day.

Whiting said he is puzzled as to why someone would tap into the courthouse’s surveillance footage, pointing out that the city and county had good relations in 2007 and 2008.

He said the county claims it didn’t have a reason to extend a feed into the police department.

“I’m curious as to how that happened,” Whiting said. “You’d think if the county really had a problem, they’d have said something in the last 2½ years. But it never became a big enough event from the time that the county became aware.”

Tripp County Sheriff Chip Schroeder said several surveillance cameras were placed in the courthouse for security purposes.

He declined to comment about matters pertaining to the investigation, preferring to wait until it is complete.

Root said he was surprised to learn of the situation, saying if Schroeder knew about the situation three or four years ago, he should have called DCI then.

Either a judge or Schroeder pursued the installation of cameras, Root said. Golden West Telecommunications in Rapid City installed the equipment.

“Commissioners felt there was a trust issue. They felt they couldn’t trust the city,” he said.

Whiting said one DCI agent came to investigate.

“All of these questions hopefully will be answered if DCI can figure out by the paperwork who authorized the transmission of security pictures from the courthouse to the city police department,” he said.

An attempt to reach Sara Rabern, Attorney General’s Office spokeswoman, on the status of DCI’s probe was unsuccessful.

If a city employee turns out to be at fault, Whiting would need to get involved, Root said. Then the city council and Keesis would need to take the appropriate action.

Root declined to speculate on a possible motive for a city employee to keep tabs on the county until he learns the results of DCI’s investigation.

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