Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts was joined by Chief Human Resources Officer Jason Jackson today to release information on an investigation regarding the Nebraska State Patrol. The investigation stems from several reports of misconduct that led to the termination of Col. Brad Rice as superintendent.
Jackson said, "The first finding as it pertained to Col Rice's conduct was that he engaged in inappropriate command influence over internal affairs investigations on four occasions. That inappropriate conduct was the catalyst for the governor's decision to terminate Col. Rice several weeks ago. We also found that Col. Rice's response to an allegation of workplace harassment was far below our expectations for the response of leaders in state government to allegations of that degree of severity."
Other issues addressed in the report included inconsistencies in a 2016 investigation into excessive force, an accusation of theft of ammunition by a state trooper to the failure to distribute protective vests to troopers in a timely manner.
A sexual discrimination lawsuit was filed against the State Patrol this week after female recruits say they were subjected to sexually invasive medical exams as part of their pre-employment evaluations. One trooper complained and finally took the issue to Col. Rice earlier this year and nothing was done.
Governor Ricketts and Jackson both stated they wanted to be as transparent as possible but some information has to be withheld due to the continued investigation and litigation.
The following statement can be attributed to Major Russ Stanczyk, Acting Superintendent of the Nebraska State Patrol.
“As we pledged at the outset of Mr. Jackson’s review, NSP personnel have cooperated fully in an effort to improve our agency. We welcome the findings and, based on conversations throughout the process, have already begun to implement some of the recommendations. NSP looks forward to continued work with Mr. Jackson and Governor Ricketts in our goal to keep Nebraska safe.”