Police union sues Whitehall, alleging email block violates the First Amendment

WHITEHALL, Ohio (WCMH) -- Central Ohio's police union filed a lawsuit against the city of Whitehall on Friday, alleging an email policy violates the First Amendment.

The Fraternal Order of Police, Capital City Lodge #9 (FOP) sued Whitehall, Mayor Michael Bivens and Chief of Police Mike Crispen over a policy banning FOP from using the city's email system. The lawsuit alleges Bivens and Crispen had the city's IT department ban all emails with the domain "@fop9.org."

Bivens and Crispen have a lengthy, contentious relationship with the FOP, particularly FOP President Brian Steel. NBC4 Investigates took a deep dive into the culture within Whitehall's police force, the subject of much of the sparring between Steel and Crispen.

The lawsuit follows months of public accusations, with Steel alleging Whitehall punishes union members, and Crispen alleging Steel has harassed leadership, including accusing Steel of vandalism. See previous coverage in the video player above.

According to the lawsuit, FOP emails were blocked after Steel sent a vote of no confidence memo to Crispen, accusing him of "failed leadership." The lawsuit alleges Steel received a response directing him to "stop sending these emails to the chiefs' account," and threatening to block him if the messages continued.

In February, Steel sent another email. As previously indicated, Steel was blocked from the email system, and the lawsuit claims it prevented him from emailing union members. The lawsuit alleges the blanket ban violates the First Amendment.

In a September city council meeting, City Attorney Brad Nicodemus addressed the email blockage. He said there can be legitimate reasons for blocking emails, but bans cannot infringe on people's right to petition the government. He said blocking emails based solely on the sender is like holding a public comment session and banning specific people.

"Based on what I have and know at this time, the ban violates the First Amendment," Nicodemus said, telling officials they should lift the ban.

NBC4 reached out to the city of Whitehall and is awaiting comment.