Licensing agency reviewing raid report
Staff writer
A 124-page special prosecutors’ report about a raid Aug. 11, 2023, on the Marion County Record and the homes of its publishers and a city councilwoman is being reviewed by a state agency that credentials law enforcement officers in Kansas.
Doug Schroeder, executive director of Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training, fell short of calling the review “an investigation.”
Investigations by the commission are confidential, Schroeder said. By law, he would not be able to say whether CPOST was conducting a formal investigation.
He did say the commission was familiar with the report and knew what page numbers contained information about specific law enforcement officers, such as interim Police Chief Zach Hudlin, who investigated the alleged crime, and fire marshal Chris Mercer, whose after-raid report said Record publisher Eric Meyer had “confessed” although Colorado Bureau of Investigation agents who reviewed Mercer’s body camera video and found that no confession had been made.
CBI agents also interviewed Kansas Bureau of Investigation agents involved in the raid and several other people.
If former chief Gideon Cody is convicted of a felony charge filed against him, CPOST has the means to ensure Cody never works in law enforcement again, Schroeder said.