London City Council members are launching their own investigation of the town’s police department, following news of an FBI investigation last week.
A resolution passed during a short Wednesday meeting names Mayor Randall Weddle, Acting Chief of Police Gary Mehler, and other local police officials among those the council is investigating.
The FBI is looking into whether the London Police Department misused its access to the National Crime Information Center. That database allows local police to search for information about stolen property, missing or wanted persons, criminal histories, and domestic violence protection orders. It also allows access to the National Sex Offender Registry.
The resolution requires the police department to provide a log of searches that include the names of 31 council members and other city employees dating back to October of 2024. The council is investigating whether the database was improperly used for background checks and whether that information was shared outside the police department.
Access to the database was transferred from the London Police Department to the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office last week.
The ordinance is part of a larger feud between Weddle and the city council that has involved the mayor’s temporary removal from office and a dispute over the city’s budget. The city council also passed a separate resolution on Wednesday investigating Weddle and other city officials over how the budget was prepared.
Weddle was temporarily impeached and removed from office last September for approving mortgages without council approval, failing to fill ethics board vacancies in a timely manner, and not properly publishing a city ordinance. That removal was overturned by a Laurel County judge later that month.
