Licensing agency likely to probe Cody, Womochil

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Marion police chief Gideon Cody and former Burns police chief Joel Womochil will in all likelihood be investigated by a state agency that licenses police officers.

Doug Schroeder, executive director of Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training, said he needed to speak in generalities about Cody and Womochil.

“There are often times we learn of an officer’s arrest through the media, and we assign an investigator,” Schroeder said. “We won’t want to conduct interviews until that criminal investigation has completed. If we know there is an ongoing criminal investigation, we want to maintain the integrity of that. We wait for that to conclude before we do any investigation.”

As for a situation such as Cody’s, what CPOST investigators would look for are violations of CPOST rules.

“There are a lot of moving parts in something like that,” Schroeder said. “Criticism, whether worldwide or local, doesn’t mean there is a violation. We ask ourselves, is an individual officer violating the training act?”

Among offenses that constitute grounds for discipline are lack of good moral character, defined as integrity; honesty; upholding the laws of the state and nation; conduct that warrants the public trust; and upholding the oath required for certification.

Any single incident or event may suffice to show that an applicant or licensee lacks or has failed to maintain good moral character.