Case Explained: When Oklahoma police officers suspected of misconduct move between agencies, the public can’t track them – Legal Perspective

by Ashlynd Baecht, The Frontier
March 18, 2026

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Editor’s note: Sunshine Week is an annual national initiative to promote open government and access to open records. Journalists use state and federal open records laws to help the public gain insight into how government works and the use of public money. These laws entitle everyone access to information about their government as part of a functioning democracy. 

When he was an officer for the Clinton Police Department, Emanuel Ruiz allegedly lied in court, testifying that a man charged with assaulting a police officer had hit him in 2021. Ruiz is also accused of keeping a shotgun and a bulletproof vest when he resigned from the department in April 2023. 

He later got a job as a police officer 15 miles east of Clinton in Weatherford, where a pending lawsuit accuses him of beating a man suspected of driving under the influence during a traffic stop in 2024.

Because police employment records are confidential in Oklahoma, the public cannot track an officer’s career across departments. The Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training, the state’s police licensing agency, told The Frontier in response to an open records request that police employment histories are confidential under state law. CLEET couldn’t disclose if the Clinton or Weatherford Police Departments had notified the agency of any allegations of misconduct involving Ruiz. 

Clinton Police Chief Luis DeLaTorre said the agency reports what is required by law to CLEET, but he wasn’t aware of any allegations of misconduct by Ruiz while he worked there. 

Ruiz remains a licensed police officer in Oklahoma. The allegations of misconduct only surfaced when he applied to work at the Oklahoma Highway Patrol in 2025, and he allegedly admitted during the interview process to keeping police equipment from Clinton and perjuring himself in a court case, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Ruiz is now facing embezzlement, perjury, and filing false or forged instrument charges in Custer County District Court.

In a press release, one of Ruiz’s attorneys in the criminal case, Annie Rynning, said her client denied the allegations. 

“After carefully reviewing the information presently available to the defense, we believe the decision to file these charges represents a serious overreach that does not withstand scrutiny when measured against the full and accurate record of events,” Rynning said. 

Weatherford Police Chief Angelo Orefice declined to comment on the criminal case.  The Weatherford Police Department also declined to release any disciplinary records for Ruiz without a subpoena and wouldn’t disclose if he had any disciplinary issues while employed. State law requires law enforcement agencies to release all final disciplinary actions if it resulted in loss of pay, suspension, demotion or termination.

Attorney Travis Vernier, who previously represented Ruiz in the Weatherford case, said in an email that federal authorities investigated the incident and none of the officers were charged with a crime. 

“Any allegation that the officers acted unlawfully or used excessive force is demonstrably false,” Vernier said.

Holding police accountable 

 Oklahoma is one of just 14 states that keeps police employment histories confidential — shielding records that could show whether officers accused of misconduct are moving from one department to another, according to Sam Stecklow, a journalist with the Invisible Institute, a Chicago-based nonprofit media outlet. Stecklow said the outlet has found 27 states that make employment history data available through open records requests.

The Invisible Institute is helping to track wandering cops with The National Police Index, a database where people can see officers’ names and work history in states that release records

But that information isn’t publicly available in Oklahoma. Kate Springer, the general counsel for CLEET, said that officers who resign while under investigation can be rehired at another agency, and it happens “fairly often.” 

Springer said a police department can request a police officer’s past employment history from CLEET, but only with the applicant’s permission.

The agency tracks when an officer leaves an agency, but it can’t filter its data to show how many of those officers returned later or moved to other law enforcement agencies. Springer said CLEET would have to search every individual officer’s employment history to get that information because of the way its computer system is designed. 

The responsibility lies with each law enforcement agency to vet applicants, Springer said. 

“I think the public has a misunderstanding that we are some, perhaps maybe some sort of internal affairs investigator for police conduct, and that is not true,” Springer said. “We don’t have that type of legal authority to investigate criminal acts or‌ even civil wrongdoings of individuals. Most of our authority is given to us to act after another jurisdiction has already completed their investigation.”

CLEET can only revoke or suspend an officer’s license after a conviction for a felony offense, domestic abuse, or crime of moral turpitude, and even after that, there’s a lengthy appeals process, Springer said. Law enforcement agencies are supposed to report criminal convictions to CLEET so the agency can determine if it has the authority to remove an officer’s license.

Since 2022, at least 124 officers have resigned from Oklahoma law enforcement agencies during internal investigations. At least another 125 officers were fired as a result of internal investigations during that time, according to CLEET. When a police department fires an officer, state law requires the agency to notify CLEET. 

CLEET allows agencies to indicate whether an officer resigned, resigned while under investigation, or was fired on the agency’s notice of termination report. But not every agency fills out that information on the form. In the past, police departments mailed the notice of termination reports, but in 2022, the agency switched to an electronic version, which made it difficult to monitor terminations “as closely,” because law enforcement agencies now input its own information through its employee portal, Springer said. 

Compliance with termination reporting requirements “has not been strictly enforced against the agencies,” Springer said. 

“We’re working really, really hard to work with police departments and get them to buy in, and get them on board with these termination reports, so that we do know how peace officers may or may not be behaving and getting terminated,” Springer said. “That accountability starts with the hiring agencies.”

Springer said the current state law prohibits the release of certain records intended to protect police officers’ privacy. 

But Joey Senat, a former Oklahoma State University professor and expert on Oklahoma open records laws, said police officers should be held accountable for their actions. 

“This is not about invading someone’s privacy,” Senat said. “This is about a system that helps hide bad police officers, police officers who aren’t doing their jobs the way they should be doing. Same for deputies.”

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