A former Overland Park police officer who resigned under questionable circumstances no longer works at the Gladstone Police Department, confirmed Friday by Gladstone Police Capt. Karl Burris, the department’s spokesperson.
Rachel Scattergood had been hired to work in Gladstone, Missouri, and was sworn in earlier this month, according to a Facebook video posted by the Gladstone Police Department on Feb. 8. But Friday, Gladstone police officials said she is no longer on the force. No further explanation was available.
The officer was on the former Overland Park PD foundation
Scattergood was one of four Overland Park officers on the board of the Overland Park Police Officers Foundation, a charitable arm of the Overland Park Fraternal Order of Police. They served on the board from 2016 to 2020.
Scattergood, Officer Brad Heater, Sgt. Brandon Faber and Sgt. Tim Tinnin were placed on administrative leave in May 2022 after questions arose about how the foundation’s funds were administered. An ensuing audit pointed to misappropriation of about $27,000 of those funds.
The charity is intended to help the families of stricken police officers and to provide charitable and educational outreach to the community.
The case was referred to Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe, who declined to press charges. Howe acknowledged at the time that the conduct of the foundation board was suspect and that the board’s poor record keeping played a part in his decision. But the apparent violations of the foundation’s by-laws failed to rise to the level of criminal charges, he said.
Scattergood resigned during an open investigation in Overland Park. The record of her resignation lists her departure under “questionable circumstances,” according to Overland Park spokesperson Meg Ralph.
Scattergood and the other three resigned in December, and there has been no indication on the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training website that their certification status that allows them to be law enforcement officers has changed.
The commission reviews when officers leave an agency to determine whether they need to investigate whether the officer might have violated the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Act — which would be considered grounds for revocation of their law enforcement credentials.
Although details of decertification actions don’t become known during the investigations, agencies can request the paperwork as they consider job candidates. It was not immediately clear whether the Gladstone force had done this.
There’s also a national decertification index with a growing number of participating agencies. The index is intended to keep problematic officers from being hired by unknowing agencies in other states.
