By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Local Fraternal Order of Police President Brad Kerns says the organization will grow from the investigation which led to the indictment of its former president and treasurer.
The former president of the Fraternal Order of Police Northwest Missouri Lodge #3, St. Joseph police officer Michael Hardin, and his wife, Sarah Hardin, formerly a deputy with the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Department and treasurer of the lodge, have been indicted by a federal grand jury on wire fraud charges. The couple is accused of defrauding the local FOP of $99,000 by using FOP funds for personal use.
Kerns issued a new release, stating FOP Northwest Missouri Lodge #3 elected new leadership at the start of 2020 after conducting an audit of the organization’s books. Kerns says the FOP reported the findings to the St. Joseph Police Department and requested a neutral department investigate the allegations. The case was turned over to the FBI.
“We as an organization hold ourselves as law enforcement, to the same standard to which we ask our members to hold the communities they serve,” the statement released by the local FOP says. “We as law enforcement must recognize the law we uphold applies equally to us. We will continue to hold all members accountable to themselves and the organizations in law enforcement for which they work.”
“As an organization we will grow from this and continue to support our dedicated members of law enforcement and the communities they serve,” the statement continues. “This will not deter, nor stop us, from being present and even more dedicated to the communities in which we are present.”
Kerns says several safeguards have been put in place to prevent such incidents from happening again within our organization.
“We ask that the actions of a very few not overshadow the overall good our members do for the communities they serve.”