The Kansas Bureau of Investigation – and possibly the FBI – are investigating the Hutchinson Police Department, Reno County District Attorney Keith Schroeder confirmed Thursday.
Schroeder said he sought the investigation after hearing “allegations and rumors of preferential treatment.”
He declined to go into details on who or what the preferential treatment involved, but said he sought an outside agency to look into the complaints due to “issues of integrity and trust that we need to have resolved.”
Schroeder said he didn’t know if the allegations rose to the level of a crime. But he said he wanted to resolved questions about the department because of U.S. Supreme Court rulings referred to as Brady/Giglio, requiring information that casts doubt on the credibility of testifying officers be revealed to the defense in a criminal case.
Schroeder said he asked the KBI to investigate and, after advised they may not have the staff to conduct an investigation, asked the FBI to join. He said, however, he doesn’t know who is handling the investigation.
“I’ve worked here 30 years, and this department has a legacy of being superior,” Schroeder said. “I still consider them to be superior. But I believed it was important enough to look into.”
(Read more: Local – The Hutchinson News)