News organization condemns police raid on Kansas newspaper

TOPEKA, Kansas – Dozens of U.S. news organizations have condemned a police raid on a local newspaper and the editor’s home in Kansas.

The raid was conducted by five Marion Police Department (MPD) officers and two county sheriff’s deputies.

The raid reportedly occurred as the newspaper The Record had investigated allegations of sexual misconduct against Police Chief Gideon Cody.

The raid also contributed to the death of 98-year-old co-owner Joan Meyer, who was “stressed beyond her means and overwhelmed by hours of shock and grief.” The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) argued that the raid violated federal law and the First Amendment.

The MPD acknowledged that federal privacy law “protects journalists from most searches of newsrooms by federal and state officials”

It noted, however, that the law provides an exception when journalists “are themselves suspected of the crime that is the subject of the search”

The search warrant, signed by 8th Judicial District Judge Laura Viar, authorized the search for evidence of identity theft and criminal use of a computer.

Eric Meyer, Joan Meyer’s son, told the Kansas Reflector that “basically all the on-duty law enforcement officers in Marion County, Kansas, stormed our offices and seized servers, computers and personal cell phones of employees.”