Eight state police recruits were fired after accessing an exam online before they were supposed to complete it, an internal investigation made public Friday revealed.
According to the investigation, the exam was supposed to be administered in person on Jan. 10 but was uploaded online that morning in case some recruits needed to take it remotely. The eight recruits accused of cheating allegedly opened the test online and began filling it out before the allotted two-hour testing period.
Witnesses reported two recruits were cheating, and six others confessed after a commander threatened to have I.T. look through their computers.
State police announced earlier this week that eight recruits had been fired for cheating on an exam.
“This was a very unfortunate set of circumstances, and allegations such as these are not taken lightly,” said Colonel Stavros Mellekas, the state police commander. “From start to finish, we demand that our recruits maintain the integrity of the Connecticut state police.”
According to the investigation, which was conducted by the state police’s Bureau of Professional Standards and Compliance, the test in question was originally scheduled to take place remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic before being switch to in-person several days in advance.
While most recruits opened the test, which had been uploaded to an online portal under “documents” instead of “tests,” the majority closed it when they realized it was the exam they were set to take later that day.
In written statements submitted to investigators, some of the fired recruits claimed they didn’t realize the document they had accessed was a test and thought they were merely filling out a study guide, while others admitted to knowingly cheating.
State police union executive director Andrew Matthews has said he agreed with department officials’ decision to fire the recruits.
“If you’re going to cheat on a test, what else would you cheat on?” Matthews said. “You can’t really do the job of a state trooper.”
The firings come as Connecticut’s state police are seeking to bolster their numbers, which have fallen over the past decade and could drop further with a wave of retirements expected in the coming weeks and months.
Still, State Rep. Greg Howard, a Stonington police detective who serves as the ranking House Republican on the legislature’s public safety committee, said this week that the recruits should be held to high standards.
“We need new troopers, but the reality is we need good troopers,” Howard said. “What we don’t need is people not of the right moral character that are just going to stain the profession.”
The remaining 53 members of the 131st Training Troop are scheduled to graduate from the state police academy on March 24.
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