Court records show an investigation involving the Kimball Police Department by the Nebraska State Patrol preceded the abrupt resignation of former Police Chief Andy Bremer last month.
In a search warrant dated April 11, an NSP investigator assigned to investigate a misconduct allegation against Bremer sought access to handwritten and electronic documents including daily action reports, citizen contact and investigative reports, dispatch records, requests and responses, as well as photos and videos including body camera footage, from the Police Department, Kimball County Sheriff and Kimball County Attorney offices. The requests were specifically for records tied to one full-time officer, and four employees identified by Bremer to the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center as trainees.
The investigation alleges that against state law, trainees were allowed act in a law enforcement capacity in various ways without the required training and certifications. The investigator reviewed a document authored by one trainee who said they were given a uniform and badge to wear, allowed to carry tasers, investigated various crimes and fill out related reports, and allowed to use police cruisers. In addition, the investigator detailed personal observations of a November 2022 incident at the county courthouse of a trainee in full uniform with a firearm, knowledge of a trainee transporting minors in an official vehicle to a forensic interview in Feb. 2023, and that in the same month, the County Attorney had dropped a minor in possession case in which the report had been authored by a trainee.
Documents were requested from August 1, 2021 to April 12 this year, and court records say the investigator received them April 21. That was the same day a special City Council meeting April 25 was publicized, with an agenda that included acceptance of Bremer’s resignation.
A report at the conclusion of the investigation would be forwarded to the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office for a determination of what, if any, charges would be filed as a result. Official misconduct is a Class II misdemeanor, with no minimum penalty, but a maximum of six months imprisonment, a one-thousand dollar fine or both.
During the April 25 special meeting, the Council named Dwain Murdoch as interim Chief, and opened a search for Bremer’s successor.
