OCEANSIDE - The city of Oceanside has hired an outside investigator to determine whether police Chief Frank McCoy and city police officers misbehaved in Las Vegas after a popular law enforcement relay race last month, city officials said Wednesday.

Interim City Manager Peter Weiss said the allegations were received by the city late last week in an anonymous letter.

A copy of the letter, also anonymously dropped off at the front desk of the North County Times' Oceanside office, does not allege that any laws were broken, but does say the chief received lap dances at a Las Vegas strip club and that those dances may have involved a female Oceanside officer.

Weiss said with the "nature of these allegations, we needed to do something, at least to satisfy ourselves whether there was any merit to the allegations."

Speaking as the attorney for the Oceanside Police Officers Association, Greg Emerson said the investigation will uncover that the letter has factual errors.

"I think there are absolute falsehoods that have been set forth in that letter … flat-out false statements and allegations," he said. "The notion that the chief is cozy with the (Oceanside Police Officers Association) or has somehow compromised his ability to manage the department is absolutely wrong."

An Oceanside Police Department team was among 227 that competed in this year's 23rd Annual Challege Cup Baker to Vegas Relay the weekend of April 21, according to the race Web site.

The 120-mile desert run starts in Baker and ends in Las Vegas, where many participants traditionally celebrate before going home.

Weiss said he might know later this week how long the investigation will take and its cost.

McCoy, a family man in his mid-40s who was sworn in as chief in January 2006, couldn't be reached for comment.