Cheating claim nets dismissal of officers
Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2008
Bella Vista’s police chief said he plans to appeal on behalf of one of his officer who was accused of cheating and expelled from the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy last week.
Chief Jim Wozniak said he’ll appeal officer Scott Vanatta’s dismissal to the training academy’s standards commission.
“I haven’t seen a written report from the academy, but based on what Scott told me, absolutely, yes, we’ll appeal on his behalf,” Wozniak said Wednesday.
Steve Farris, the academy’s deputy director, said Vanatta and three other officers were dismissed from the academy after an incident Friday. The others were Benton County sheriff’s deputy Wade Porter, Washington County sheriff’s deputy John Staats and Farmington police officer A. J. Jefferson.
Because of their expulsions, the four must wait two years before they can apply to return to the academy to become certified law officers in Arkansas. Either the officers or their departments can appeal to the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training.
The expelled officers could not be reached for comment.
Porter, who was fired from the Benton County sheriff’s office Friday, copied answers to an unattended multiple-choice exam left in a classroom that morning at the Northwest Arkansas satellite of the academy in Elm Springs, Farris said.
Porter gave the answers to Jefferson and Vanatta, who gave them to Staats, Farris said. Another officer in the class saw the cheating and reported it to staff, Farris said, who then con- ducted the investigation that led to the officers being dismissed.
The off icers were three weeks from graduating from the 12-week program and becoming certified.
“We’re just floored,” Farris said. “We don’t [know ] why they did this. They weren’t failing or struggling in the class. Besides it being an ethical lapse, you’ve got a real lapse of judgment here.” Farmington fired Jefferson, while Staats and Vanatta have been put on administrative leave with pay in their departments.
The Washington County sheriff’s office is conducting an internal investigation into Staats’ involvement, spokesman Kelly Cantrell said. Officials at the Benton County sheriff’s office and the Farmington Police Department didn’t return calls.
Farris said at least one of the officers contends he didn’t use the answers but that the claim is moot.
“They get a handbook that says they promise not to cheat,” he said. “Whether or not they used the answers or received them, it violates the rules.” He said the last time an officer was caught cheating was in 1995 at the main training academy in Camden. The Northwest Arkansas site opened in 2002.
Farris said the teacher who left the answers unattended isn’t in trouble. It’s up to the officers to be ethical and police themselves, he said.
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