Almost entire Kansas police department resigns

BROWN COUNTY (KSNT) - Nearly the entire Kickapoo Police force resigned, except for one officer, on Dec. 4.

At the regular City of Horton Commission meeting on Dec. 18, the commission heard that as of Monday, Dec. 4, 2023, the whole Kickapoo Police force resigned. The mass resignation came after the Bureau of Indian Affairs Law Enforcement Division (BIA) requested assistance and an assessment of the police department. When BIA agents arrived, the police force walked out, according to the meeting minutes.

The police force consisted of four officers, a chief, a lieutenant and two regular officers, according to the Tribe's Attorney General and General Counsel Napoleon Crews. Crews said the chief, lieutenant and one regular officer resigned. According to Crews, one regular officer is still employed. He said the chief and lieutenant quit without notice about an hour or two after the BIA inspector's arrival.

The Brown County Sheriff's Department, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Kansas Highway Patrol and Horton Police Departments are currently patrolling the reservation. The BIA will be conducting interviews for officers, according to the minutes.

"The tribe is conducting interviews as we speak. A lot of applications have been submitted for the open positions, and we expect to hire at least 3 new officers within the next couple of weeks," Crews said.

"We still provide criminal patrol and criminal interdiction on tribal land. So they have not been without police protection..." Brown County Sheriff John Merchant said. "We have criminal authority out there and we’re really the only ones through there, to my knowledge they haven’t hired or had any other agencies come in and do any work for them."

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