An outside investigation has concluded that Shaker Heights Police Chief Wayne Hudson violated state law by making three traffic enforcement stops before he had completed the certification training required of him, according to findings released by the city. Hudson issued no tickets during those stops, and Mayor David Weiss says the chief has promised the conduct will not happen again.
The investigation, commissioned by the city after complaints from the police union, found that Hudson made the stops in 2023 before finishing the training an out-of-state officer needs to enforce Ohio traffic law, according to the FOX 8 I-Team. Under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4796 and Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission guidelines, out-of-state law enforcement officers moving to Ohio must complete a state prior-equivalency evaluation and obtain reciprocal OPOTA certification, which requires passing a state exam and background check, before taking sworn enforcement action, per the Ohio Attorney General. The investigator also found that Hudson technically violated a department general order.
Weiss described the general-order violation as entirely accidental and unintentional, and he called Hudson an exemplary role model to his department. The mayor said he advised Hudson to pay greater attention to compliance with applicable rules and regulations, and confirmed that the chief received counseling rather than formal discipline. Weiss gave Hudson a vote of confidence following the findings, the station's report notes.
Union Complaints Sparked the Review
The city's decision to commission an outside investigation followed complaints from the police union, which were folded into a lawsuit filed on behalf of a Shaker Heights sergeant. Attorney Craig Bashein filed that lawsuit against Hudson and other defendants. Sgt. Gregory Kerr alleged in a January 2026 filing in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court that Hudson retaliated against him with discrimination that cost him more than $100,000 in lost overtime and career opportunities, according to Cleveland.com. Kerr claimed Hudson retaliated by cutting his overtime and denying him training opportunities.
The lawsuit also claimed that Hudson promoted an officer who had posted videos of himself in uniform in a police car discussing violence, and separately claimed that Hudson put a loaded gun in a sergeant's car pointing at the driver's seat. The City of Shaker Heights responded that the defendants did not engage in unlawful, willful, reckless, or malicious conduct toward the plaintiff. Bashein later dismissed the lawsuit but has said he plans to refile it against Hudson and others, and he criticized what he called a lack of accountability for the chief.
Chief Says His Focus Is Professionalism and Fairness
Shaker Heights declined the FOX 8 I-Team's request to interview the chief or the mayor on camera. In a statement, Hudson said his objective is to lead the Shaker Heights Police Department with professionalism, integrity, consistency, and fairness. He committed to holding all employees to the same standards of conduct regardless of rank or tenure, and to maintaining the public's trust.
Hudson was appointed police chief on January 9, 2023, following a national candidate search to replace former Chief Jeffrey DeMuth, who retired after a 33-year career with the department, according to WKYC. Before coming to Ohio, Hudson spent nearly 28 years with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office in Nebraska, where he became the agency's first Black Chief Deputy Sheriff in 2021 after beginning his law enforcement career as an Air Force security specialist.
A Tenure Marked by Internal Friction
The certification finding is not the first flashpoint of Hudson's time in Shaker Heights. In early 2024, he denied a resigning officer's $10,000 offer to purchase his retiring K-9 partner, Igor, publicly framing police dogs as municipal property subject to strict asset rules, a decision that prompted public protests and online petitions from residents. In October 2023, Hudson had told Shaker Life that the department received just 45 citizen complaints out of roughly 100,000 calls for service over a three-year span, with only five sustained upon review, as he touted community-directed policing as a core strategy.
The department's broader oversight structure has also shifted recently. Matthew P. Carroll took over as Shaker Heights' Chief Administrative Officer in a leadership transition last year, succeeding longtime CAO Jeri Chaikin and taking on responsibility for the city's roughly $64 million annual budget, including police department oversight. Hudson's appointment itself followed the city's 2023 adoption of the Framework for Maintaining a Safe and Just Shaker Heights agreement, which led local reform group Shaker Citizens for Fair Ticketing to drop a ballot initiative aimed at restructuring traffic enforcement.
For now, city leadership has closed the book on the certification finding with counseling rather than discipline, even as Bashein's promised refiling of the sergeant's lawsuit signals that scrutiny of the department's command structure is far from over.
