Kansas governor picks high-ranking DEA official to take over embattled highway patrol

By JOHN HANNA
AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas governor has named a high-ranking U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official to head the state highway patrol. Erik Smith will replace a retiring superintendent who is facing federal lawsuits over the agency’s policing and allegations that he sexually harassed female employees. Gov. Laura Kelly’s appointment Friday of Smith as superintendent came on the last day on the job for retiring Superintendent Herman Jones. Smith is set to take over as superintendent July 7. Smith is a native of the small central Kansas town of Ellsworth and served nine years with the Sedgwick County sheriff’s office in Wichita before joining the DEA.