Valley Falls Police Chief terminated Wednesday
08/07/2025

Editor's note: an earlier version of this story stated that Wednesday's vote was 4-0 when the actual vote was 3-1. We have since corrected the story. We hav additially updated it to include a statement, apparently posted by Clarkt to the Valley Falls Police Department's official Facebook page.

(KAIR)--The termination this week of the Valley Falls Chief of Police has caused a flood of social media comments from residents, both current and past, questioning the decision of the City Council.

The vote to terminate Chief Carrie Clark from her employment was made during Wednesday's meeting of the Valley Falls City Council, and followed a lengthy executive session called for the purpose of discussion of employment performance of non-elected personnel.

Once the closed door session was complete, the motion was made to terminate Clark, with a 3-1 vote following.

A reason for her termination was not stated publicly.

Shortly after the Council's decision, a letter, dated July 10 and bearing the signature of Kansas Highway Patrol legal counsel, was posted to the Valley Falls Police Department's social media.

While no comment was included with the post, the letter, addressed to Valley Falls Mayor Jeanette Shipley, states its purpose as informing Shipley "that access to criminal justice databases and areas where restricted information is stored, [such as] the Police Department Offices, is not permitted for unsupervised access by anyone who has not been authorized by Federal and State policy, including the Mayor and City Administrator."

It remains unconfirmed who posted the letter to the police pages, and it's unclear exactly what sparked the sending of the letter from the KHP, but Shipley denies any wrongdoing, telling MSC News she and the Valley Falls City Attorney plan to issue a statement on what can legally be stated pertaining to Clark's termination.

A message sent by MSC News to Clark's social media for comment has not immediately been answered.

Following the Council's Wednesday decision to terminate, members of the public took to social media, with some wondering why the termination was decided while others voiced support for Clark, and others called for the termination of other City leadership.


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