The Tulsa Police Department is investigating a captain's decision to disregard an order to send officers to an event at a local mosque, the local CBS affiliate in Tulsa reports.
Capt. Paul Fields and other commanders were directed by Deputy Chief Daryl Webster to send nine department representatives to a law enforcement appreciation day event at the Islamic Society of Tulsa mosque.
The original instruct sought volunteers to attend, but that was changed to a mandate when not enough volunteers came forward. The order that followed, Fields claims, is illegal because attendance at prior similar events sponsored by religious and non-religious organizations had been voluntary.
The mosque event was a form of community outreach by the Tulsa police, so officer attendance should be mandatory, Webster wrote in a memo responding to Fields' concerns.
Fields still refused the directive, prompting an internal affairs investigation to determine if Fields violated department policy. On Monday, Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan reassigned Fields pending the investigation's outcome.
"We want to make it very clear, it's not related just because it's a mosque, hasn't anything to do with his ultimate decision," Fields' attorney Scott Wood told KOTV in Tulsa. "It has to do with the intersection of religious rights of an individual to not associate with other people if they choose not to."
The Islamic Society of Tulsa has been incorporated in Oklahoma since 1997. Tulsa County records reveal that property is owned by the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), a subsidiary organization of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Both NAIT and ISNA were unindicted co-conspirators in the Hamas-support case in Dallas against the now-defunct Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF). The foundation and five of its officials were convicted of illegally routing millions of dollars to the terrorist organization Hamas. NAIT and ISNA were shown to be U.S. members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Islamic Society of Tulsa's constitution, posted on its website, identifies it as a close affiliate of ISNA. Further, under "Article XII: Affiliation," page 13, the constitution states, "The Muslim Student Association of the Tulsa University (also known as MSA) is recognized herein as a Founding Affiliate of The IST." The MSA is rooted in the Muslim Brotherhood and through conferences and events, publications, websites and other activities; MSA disseminates and promotes militant Islamic ideologies.