LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. — Some business owners here say they are being told by police to take down signs supporting five officers who claim to have blown the whistle on alleged wrongdoing in the police department.

        “(An officer) came in here and tried to make me take it down,” said Doris Smith, owner of Vision Photo. “He was in full dress uniform. He told me I was insulting every police officer by putting up that sign.”

        The sign, distributed by wives of officers who filed the complaint, reads simply, “We support the sound of integrity” and displays a picture of a whistle to represent whistle blowing.

        “It doesn't say anything negative about the department,” said Jo'Nee Cochran, the wife of Officer Tom Cochran. “Our intent is only to support our husbands.”

        Lawrenceburg police officials did not return calls Friday.

        The Indiana State Police confirmed that they are investigating the department and referred all questions about it to the Dearborn County Prosecutor's office. No one could be reached in the prosecutor's office Friday.

        In March, Officers Cochran, Bill Hoffman, Mike Lanning, Brian Miller and Doug Taylor accused Police Chief John Agner, an assistant chief and two other officers in the 16-member department of theft, misuse of public property, funding fake positions and firearm violations.

        Ms. Cochran and four other wives — Kam Miller, Jill Lanning, Nina Hoffman and Katrina Taylor — say they made the signs after the department targeted their husbands for retribution.

        “They have all been put on midnight shifts. Their jobs have changed. They've been suspended,” Ms. Cochran said. “They have suffered extreme harassment.”

        Some business owners who displayed the sign said Friday that they were visited by police officers and Chief Agner.

        A supervisor at the Big Blue Store who did not want her name used said an officer came into her store and told them to take down one of the signs. They complied.

        But Ms. Smith said she “won't be intimidated” and that the sign in her store is staying.

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