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Committee advances bill requiring disclosure of officer conflicts in probable-cause affidavits after parents recount years-long case
Summary
Lawmakers voted to advance a bill requiring police to disclose personal or financial conflicts in probable-cause affidavits after parents described a Tippecanoe County case they say involved an officer whose son was a witness; committee backed a notification requirement but declined to add penalties.
The committee advanced Senate Bill 259 after parents from West Lafayette described their son’s arrest and what they called a conflicted police report that led to criminal charges and probation.
Senate Bill 259, carried by Senator Ron Alting, would require law enforcement officers preparing a probable-cause affidavit to disclose any personal, financial or other interests they have that could create a conflict with the matter under investigation.
Marla and Steve Kybers told the committee their 13-year-old son was arrested after a school football game in September 2023 after an officer’s son reported the youth had a small Swiss Army knife. The Kybers said the arresting officer’s son was omitted from the report provided to the prosecutor and that the report “portrayed a narrative that was unnecessarily negative.” Marla Kybers said the prosecutor initially considered a felony intimidation charge and an ankle monitor before the family’s private attorney negotiated a deferred misdemeanor outcome and probation.
“It's really kind of a cover up because he made it quite clear to me that his son was involved, but he certainly didn’t tell the prosecutor that,” Marla Kybers said at the hearing.
Supporters said the bill is a narrow transparency measure to ensure prosecutors get full information from the outset. Senator Freeman told the committee he believed the family’s ordeal could have been avoided “had information been in the probable cause,” and described the bill as aimed at providing prosecutors a fuller record early in a case.
Opponents and several senators pressed whether the bill would go far enough, citing department policies that already advise officers to refrain from investigating matters involving family members, and noting the bill contains no enforcement penalty. Senator Pohl and others urged that the measure be a starting point.
The committee approved SB259 on a recorded vote of 8–1. The chair said the committee would accept the bill as a notification requirement and that further work could follow to refine language on what kinds of relationships must be disclosed.
