We ran across an interesting story yesterday detailing the vetting process, or lack thereof, of police officers in a certain city. Essentially, a police officer was arrested for highly questionable behavior while making an arrest of a domestic violence suspect.
Evidently, the officer lost his cool and sent explicit private images on the suspect’s phone to the arrested man’s wife. He then engaged in an angry conversation with the wife through a series of texts.
The peculiar behavior has the officer now being charged with theft and distributing private images without consent. Okay, a minor incident for the most part, right?
Now it appears the young cop on the beat, he had just graduated from the city’s police academy two months prior, had several red flags in his recent past that were not accounted for.
According to the county sheriff, the man was fired by his office even before his 30-day probation period was complete.
The sheriff said during a background check they learned he had applied for another law enforcement agency in another county and was not hired because he had lied about his resume qualifications.
And so, how did the man get hired by the city police department? According to the sheriff, his office never received an inquiry from the city about the officer’s work at their department.
But the red flags do not end there. The officer was arrested in 2022 for reckless endangerment, and another arrest the same year for discharging a firearm in city limits.
And yet another red flag came up when it was learned he had an outstanding arrest warrant for speeding.
So now the question in the city is why was the man allowed to enter their police academy for training to become an officer?
According to the local public safety director, it’s up to each individual police department to vet their own recruit. It is unknown what the city police department’s background screening procedure is.
According to the county sheriff, his department conducts significant background checks, to include checking references, criminal records, and even polygraphs.
“By the time they get to the academy, they’re thoroughly vetted,” the sheriff said.
So, what happened with the city background check of the officer with numerous red flags? In a statement, the city police department said, “A background check has been conducted. No further details are available at this time.”
Okay. According to the county sheriff, “Clearly there was not a good background check done, because he should have never been a police officer.”
The city police department has confirmed that the arrested officer has been placed on administrative leave.
The lesson here? Have a consistent system in place when conducting background checks and make sure all candidates are thoroughly vetted before hiring. In this case, the lack of a consistent system potentially put the public in danger.