UPDATES IN RED

Okay, I have had my ear to the ground for information on this since I first reported the incident about the RSU lockdown yesterday. I have some information that I want to confirm; however, the individual in the Records Division at Claremore Police Department told me today that the police report for the incident would not be released because of HIPAA requirements related to the mental health issues involved.

I have been advised that HIPAA will allow the police to redact certain information, but the police report remains a public record and should be made available. I have requested a redacted version from the police. I will see how that goes Monday.

Now, as for the incident itself. I am getting inquiries. I am receiving information. However, the police will not confirm the identity of the person who is at the center of the investigation. And, according to a story in today’s Claremore Progress, Claremore Assistant Chief of Police, Stan Brown, says that the information that led to the lockdown might have been embellished.

“Young people being young people, information about what did or didn’t happen just flew — and it’s not uncommon for that information to get embellished in the process,” Brown said.

Well, the public is not getting to determine whether the information was embellished or not, as the information is not being released. This situation is not dissimilar to the recent incident, largely reported in the Oologah Lake Leader, when mental patient Randy Thweatt walked away from his group’s day trip to Oologah Lake. In that case, the escape was not reported to local authorities or the public for two weeks, and then only due to the watchful eyes of John Wylie at the Leader. (The Leader does not archive its stories online, so here’s a link to the KOTV story about it.)

I am not alleging that RSU did not notify the proper authorities. I think it’s plain that the university did. What is at issue here is whether the public has a right to know of a threat in a community and on a campus, or whether some requirement in the HIPAA law keeps every bit of the incident report private. Taken to its logical extreme, we could all keep our public records private by alleging that we’re nuts or acting crazy when reports and investigations happen.

I submit that when there is enough of a threat to put a state university campus on lockdown (according to the RSU Campus Emergency Plan, there is either “lockdown” or “modified lockdown,” the former being more severe), the public deserves to know the nature of the threat–even if it is just “precautionary” and as a result of “embellished” information.

However, since the authorities will not (or believe they cannot) inform the public, I will share the information that I have received. And, I preface this with the disclaimer that I have done my best to confirm the information, though I regret any errors I may make. I will correct any and all as soon as I get better information.

Now, the identity of the individual taken for evaluation is Tywone Parks. An RSU alumnus, Parks still has many friends and acquaintances who are regularly on the RSU campus. A Google search shows that Parks seems to have been a good student and involved with many campus groups. Friends on Xanga say nice things about him.

However, an image hosted on Facebook also shows this:

I will be the first to say that owning and holding a gun does not make one a threat. However, someone who was taken to a mental facility for evaluation having access to weapons does concern me and, I believe, the public. Combine that with reports of other issues, and people can get scared. Scared people panic. When people panic, they overreact. A little bit of information can allay the situation.

So, for everyone’s benefit, authorities needs to make some things public, and these issues can be addressed without revealing anything that would put them at odds with HIPAA. They include:

• Was a severed dog’s head left on someone’s doorstep or not?
• Was a hit list found or not?
• Did RSU’s administration advise individuals on campus not to attend meetings this week and to reschedule prescheduled meetings and weekly events or not?
• Did RSU employ its recently announced Emergency Notification System or not? If not, why? According to Tulsa’s FOX23:

…in this case it was not used because there was never an on-campus threat.

• Was a search warrant issued and executed or not?
• Was a cache of weapons found or not? Again, according to FOX23:

Police say the student was taken into custody at his off-campus apartment. Inside, they found weapons and journal entries that prompted police to start an investigation.

“I will tell you that what was found at the scene is considered disturbing, but at this point we only consider it a mental health issue”, said Assistant Chief Stan Brown with the Claremore Police Department.

What I can say for sure is that three individuals asked for and received emergency protective orders against Tywone Parks Wednesday, and Deer Run apartments filed forcible entry and detainer against him yesterday.

That’s the information I have right now. One more personal comment:

Whatever threat existed earlier this week has been compounded by a lack of communication and transparency by authorities at RSU and Claremore PD. It’s nothing new for the Wiley administration at RSU (again, we look forward to the forthcoming Rice administration), but I have always believed Claremore police to be a better organization than that. Releasing too little information because of a misunderstanding of HIPAA is just as bad as releasing too much personal medical information.

Further, I sayeth not (for right now). Updates will be forthcoming as I have new info.