Former JOCO deputy loses police license after lying about reviewing body cam footage
A former Johnson County sheriff’s deputy lost his law enforcement license after he was accused of lying in sworn testimony during a driving under the influence case, state records show.
Peter Hoff worked for the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office from August 2017 to October 2018, and again from April 2019 to November 2022. The Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training (CPOST), the state agency responsible for issuing, suspending and revoking licenses, investigated after Hoff was fired from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office for his conduct.
According to CPOST records, Hoff told the Johnson County assistant district attorney he reviewed body camera footage before a hearing for a DUI case. But his testimony was inconsistent with what body camera footage showed.
After the hearing, the ADA wrote in an email to her supervisor that she believed Hoff lied about reviewing the body camera footage and made up facts during his testimony that he thought might be helpful to the case.
“If he had reviewed his body cam footage prior to court, then he straight up just made up facts on the stand since his testimony did not match his footage nor his report,” her email read.
“He then responded to almost every question Defense asked on cross with ‘I don’t remember’ and became increasingly smart-alecky as the cross went on.”
Pro Tempore Judge Marc Berry found Hoff not to be credible and granted the defense’s motion to suppress all evidence. The case was dismissed because of Hoff’s testimony.
After the case was dismissed, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office checked Hoff’s access history for the body camera footage and found he had last reviewed it Aug. 12, 2021, more than a year before the suppression hearing.
In the investigation, Hoff was adamant that he reviewed the body camera footage, and suggested he could have reviewed the wrong footage by mistake in preparation for the hearing. After looking into this claim, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office found Hoff viewed a separate body camera video for a marijuana possession charge that took place in 2022.
Johnson County concluded Hoff could not have mistakenly reviewed the wrong footage in preparation for the suppression hearing.
Hoff was given the option to resign or be terminated. At that time, he chose to be terminated.
After he was fired, Hoff unsuccessfully appealed to the Johnson County Sheriff, and made an appeal to the Johnson County Civil Service Board. But before his hearing with the Board, he submitted a resignation. Johnson County accepted his resignation in place of a termination after Hoff decided not to appeal to the Civil Service Board.
Hoff told CPOST investigators that the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office approached him with a “deal” to “walk away clean” if he resigned.
CPOST said the deal Hoff mentioned was false information because the Johnson County investigation found Hoff had violated department policies. In a statutorily mandated report to CPOST regarding Hoff’s separation, the Sheriff’s Office wrote Hoff had violated policies under a provision for “truthfulness and unbecoming conduct.”
Hoff’s license was revoked by the commission on Nov. 13.
