Wichita police, sheriff’s office now will investigate each other’s officer-involved shootings
The Wichita Police Department and the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office will start investigating each other’s officer-involved shootings, in-custody deaths and other critical incidents, officials said Wednesday.
Sheriff Jeff Easter said Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett had pushed for this to happen since he was elected in 2012, when Easter was first elected as well.
“The Wichita Police Department took a look at this concept and for whatever reason it just didn’t work out during those times,” Easter said. “Chief (Joe) Sullivan came here, we had a discussion about it and were both in agreement that it would be best for this community because this community has been asking for a change in how we investigate these.”
Sullivan took over the department in November 2022.
Sullivan said now “when an officer or deputy is involved in a critical incident, we have protocols in place to conduct an independent and transparent investigation.”
Previously, the Wichita Police Department and the sheriff’s office would investigate each other’s officers only in cases that were potentially criminal. This new agreement will keep that, while adding the officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths.
Before this agreement, the WPD and sheriff’s office would investigate those incidents for their own agency with oversight of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, police Lt. Aaron Moses and Easter said.
“KBI would come in, but they don’t have the resources to bring in a bunch of of KBI agents where they completely took over the case,” Easter said about the process for the sheriff’s office. “They kind of oversaw the investigation and presented it to the DA.”
He said now they will do the investigation for each other and present it to the DA.
By law, the in-custody deaths will not include the death of inmates at the Sedgwick County Jail. Easter said those have to be investigated by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
The shootings, whether fatal or non-fatal, and the in-custody deaths will automatically spark an investigation by the other agency. However, other critical incidents, such as people injured while in officer custody could also spark an investigation
Easter said the two agencies have a memorandum of understanding ready to be signed.
The team is composed of 10 detectives at WPD and 10 at the sheriff’s office. This work will be in addition to their other duties. That group has already undergone training from the Association of Force Investigators. That group, called Advanced Law Enforcement Response Team, has already investigated an officer-involved shooting in Maize last month and another by WPD this month.
