Former Joplin police officer charged with 4 counts of misusing official information

Former Joplin Police Department officer Kenneth Andersen is free after posting a $20,000 surety bond after being charged with four misdemeanor counts of misuse of official information by a public servant.

According to the probable cause statement, Anderson was using the city's Flock cameras to run checks on the license plates of two of his girlfriends and the current boyfriend of one of the two women.

The statement doesn't indicate if the women were former or current girlfriends of Andersen.

Andersen's arraignment is scheduled for 9 a.m. September 30 in Jasper County Circuit Court before Judge Nicole Marie Carlton.

The allegations against Andersen are detailed in the probable cause statement.

Through the investigation it was discovered that on or around December of 2025, the Joplin Police Department learned that Joplin Police Officer Kenneth Andersen had been conducting a large number of Flock Safety computer checks on three vehicle license plates. The total number of checks conducted by Kenneth Andersen led the Joplin Police Department to believe these checks were being conducted for a non-law enforcement purpose. 

In addition, the department believed Mr. Andersen may have also been conducting law enforcement sensitive computer checks for a non-law enforcement purpose. 

On January 6, 2026, the police department contacted the Highway Patrol to investigate the actions of Kenneth Andersen. The Highway Patrol’s investigation determined Mr. Andersen conducted 22 law enforcement sensitive computer checks, which weren’t for a law enforcement purpose. These checks were conducted on Brittnay Faulks, Ashtyn Gregg, Travis Collins, and vehicles associated to them. 

Ms. Faulks and Ms. Gregg were determined to be girlfriends of Mr. Andersen. Mr. Collins was
determined to be the current boyfriend of Ms. Gregg. These checks were conducted by Mr. Andersen using his department issued laptop computer, using M.U.L.E.S./N.C.I.C. law enforcement sensitive programs. 

These computer checks were conducted from November 3, 2024, through December 28, 2025. However, it appears only four of these illegal computer checks/violations are still within the statute of limitations.

On October 24, 2025, at 1801 hours, Mr. Andersen conducted a computer check of Kansas driver's license number K03001075 (Travis Collins).

On October 24, 2025, at 1803 hours, Mr. Andersen conducted a computer check of Travis Collins.

On December 28, 2025, at 0503 hours, Mr. Andersen conducted a computer check of Kansas driver's license number K03001075. The time of this computer check appears to be outside of the normal working hours for Mr. Andersen.

On December 13, 2025, at 2323 hours, Mr. Andersen conducted a law enforcement computer search of EE4252. This registration is associated to Ms. Faulks.