Ex-chief loses KS certification, accused of falsifying forms, telling officers to lie

The former chief of police for the Butler Community College department of public safety has been stripped of his Kansas law enforcement certification after being accused of falsifying officer qualification documents and telling his officers to lie during an investigation, records show.

Jason Kenney was employed by the college’s police department from August 2015 to August 2021. The college’s website shows that Kenney was promoted to chief in October 2017.

He was the police chief “at the time of his employment separation,” according to a summary order of revocation from the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training. The organization, also known as KS-CPOST, oversees law enforcement training and certification in Kansas.

The summary order gives this account:

The commission received a complaint from an officer at the college saying that his record showed he had completed his annual firearms qualification. The officer said he did not.

The commission opened an investigation and asked the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to assist.

The investigation showed two hours of annual firearms training was submitted to the commission on May 28, 2021 for Kenney and two other officers. However, none of the officers, including the chief, did the training, the order says.

Later on July 30, 2021, Kenney told KBI special agent Anthony Maness that he submitted the firearms training entries on May 28. He also told Maness that the “qualifications were not accurate, but that all three officers had qualified ‘unofficially’ earlier in the year using the appropriate targets and required course of fire.”

That same day, Kenney called agent Maness admitting that he had lied and that none of the officers actually completed their firearm qualification. He also admitted telling his officers what to say if they were questioned by the KBI, according to the order.

Attempts to reach Kenney for comment by email were unsuccessful.

Kenney is one of two former Butler Community College police officers to have their licenses revoked this year.

Former officer Alexander Thorpe was fired from the department in January 2022 after being accused of lying about poking a female gas station employee and crashing a police patrol vehicle.

He was stripped of his law enforcement certification in June 2022, records show.