Wichita police officer fired, accused of committing a crime outside Kansas

The Wichita Police Department has fired an officer after he was accused of committing a crime in another state.

Public documents provided to the Citizen’s Review Board last week showed two internal investigations that ended in termination. Both Professional Standards Bureau cases were opened in August.

One concerned a sustained allegation of “maintain competence,” where an officer failed to make a report in a case. The other PSB internal investigation was based on accusations that an employee had committed a misdemeanor crime while off duty.

Officer Charley Davidson, a WPD spokesman, said both internal investigations involved the same employee. The now-former officer had been with the department for about six and a half years before his employment officially ended on Jan. 3. Davidson did not identify the officer by name.

Davidson said the alleged misdemeanor crime happened in another jurisdiction outside of Kansas. He declined to specify what law was broken and to elaborate on the nature of the report the officer failed to make.

“Both matters were reviewed internally and are part of internal investigations,” Davidson said. “Therefore the details are part of a personnel record and are not releasable. After the completion of the internal investigations, the employee was terminated.”

This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 4:50 PM.