DEL.ICIO.USOne in three recent Atlanta Police Academy graduates have criminal records
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Keovongsa Siharath was arrested in Henry County on charges he punched his stepfather.
Jeffrey Churchill was charged with assault in an altercation with a woman in a mall parking lot.
JOHN SPINK / jspink@ajc.com
Lt. Elder Dancy (left), who runs the Atlanta Police Department’s recruitment unit, talks with the Bernard Hodes Group’s Chris Barron (center) and Stacy Mitchell at City Hall East about different advertising methods to aid hiring.
Calvin Thomas was taken into custody in DeKalb County on a concealed weapons charge.
All three are now officers with the Atlanta Police Department.
More than one-third of recent Atlanta Police Academy graduates have been arrested or cited for a crime, according to a review of their job applications. The arrests ranged from minor offenses such as shoplifting to violent charges including assault. More than one-third of the officers had been rejected by other law enforcement agencies, and more than half of the recruits admitted using marijuana.
“On its face, it’s troubling and disturbing,” said Vincent Fort, a state senator from Atlanta. “It would be very troubling that people might be hitting the streets to serve and protect and they have histories that have made them unqualified to serve on other departments.”
But Atlanta police say it’s not so simple. Officials have been trying without success for more than a decade to grow the department
to 2,000 officers, an effort hurt by this year’s budget crisis. With competition for recruits intense among law enforcement agencies, Atlanta has had to make concessions.
“We would like, in an ideal world, to see every applicant with a clean record, but obviously that’s not reality,” said Atlanta police Lt. Elder Dancy, who runs the department’s recruitment unit. “I don’t think you’ll find any departments who hire only applicants with squeaky-clean records.”
Three decades ago, a police officer with a criminal record was much less common than it is now, said Robert Friedmann, a criminal justice professor at Georgia State University. But times have changed and many agencies have had to relax their hiring policies, Friedmann said.
Other local police agencies have hiring guidelines similar to Atlanta’s. Police departments for Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties don’t hire recruits with felony convictions but do hire those with misdemeanor arrests, on a case-by-case basis.
Dancy would not divulge all of Atlanta’s restrictions but said the department won’t hire anyone with felony convictions, or those with convictions for obstruction of justice, sex or domestic crimes.
Even so, police documents show that many of their recruits have blemishes on their records.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, through an Open Records Act request, asked in mid-August for the job applications of the Atlanta Police Department’s two most recent graduating classes. The department provided 36 applications for police recruits who graduated June 10 and Aug. 4. All the graduates are currently Atlanta police officers.
The most revealing portion of the application is a questionnaire that includes some probing questions:
Have you ever used marijuana?
Have you ever been with a prostitute?
Have you ever driven under the influence of alcohol or drugs?
And: Have you ever been physically arrested or cited with criminal charges?
Twelve out of 33 officers — 36 percent — said they have been arrested or cited with a criminal offense.
“It does not mean they’re not a quality candidate,” Dancy said, adding that the department runs criminal background checks on all recruits. “It just means they made a mistake in their past.”
Officer Siharath was taken to the Henry County Jail in December 2005 after an altercation with his stepfather at his family’s home in Stockbridge, according to a police report.
Siharath, then 24, returned home to find his stepfather moving his belongings back into his mother’s house. He told his stepfather to leave, but the older man refused, the report said.
They argued, then Siharath pushed the man onto the floor and punched him in the head, the stepfather and Siharath’s mother told police. The battery charge against Siharath was later dropped in court.
Siharath could not be reached for comment on the incident, and Atlanta police would not make him available for an interview.
A decade earlier, Officer Thomas was arrested during a traffic stop in DeKalb County on charges of having a concealed weapon, he wrote in his job application.
The officer asked Thomas “if I had any weapons in the car, [and] I stated yes,” he wrote. “The officer asked where, and I told him under the seat. I was arrested for a misdemeanor — carrying a concealed weapon.”
Thomas, who paid a fine and spent a year on probation, declined to comment for this article.
Officer Churchill wrote that he was arrested in December 1995 on a charge of fourth-degree assault. Without getting into much detail, he wrote that he got into an argument with a woman in a mall parking lot, received two years of probation and an order to pay a $71 fine. Churchill could not be reached for comment on the incident, and Atlanta police would not make him available for an interview.
Friedmann, the criminal justice professor, said he “would have hoped the number [of recruits with prior arrests or criminal citations] would be lower.”
He and another criminal justice professor, Peter Fenton of Kennesaw State University, say the arrest numbers are not as significant when three factors are considered: the severity of the incident, how long ago it happened and whether it resulted in conviction.
With those factors considered, “your numbers will probably drop to about half of that,” Friedmann said.
The AJC could not analyze all those factors because recruits sometimes gave incomplete answers on the application.
Fenton, a former Cobb County police officer, said he was more concerned with the AJC’s next finding: Twelve out of 33 graduates — 36 percent — acknowledged that they had been rejected by other law enforcement agencies, including some in metro Atlanta.
“That, frankly, is more troubling to me — especially when these people have been rejected by multiple agencies,” he said.
Three officers’ rejections stemmed from failing the psychiatric or psychological portion of police agencies’ screening processes. Others were turned away because they failed lie-detector tests or offered conflicting statements about issues such as drug use.
Dancy said those issues raise red flags, but what matters most is whether recruits can pass the Atlanta Police Department’s tests and interviews.
When asked whether the department was getting top-shelf candidates, Dancy said, “as long as those applicants meet the guidelines, then we feel like we are hiring the type of officers who are [fit to be] Atlanta police officers.”
Officer Mark Moore applied for jobs with other police agencies before graduating from the Atlanta Police Academy. He tried to get a job with Atlanta police in 2004 but was rejected. He also failed a written test for the Knoxville police.
When he applied to another police department in 2002, “their psychologist deemed me to be ‘psychologicaly incompatable’ [sic] for the L.A.P.D.,” he wrote in his Atlanta job application.
Moore declined to comment when reached by phone.
More than half the graduates admitted using marijuana, though many said they did it only a few times during their high school or college years.
News researchers Nisa Asokan and Sharon Gaus and former data analyst Megan Clarke contributed to this report.
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Comments
By Ty Horn
Jun 17, 2009 9:22 AM | Link to this
A lot of the people that post comments about this article are naive and donýt really understand the true challenges of being a police officer in a big metropolitan area like Atlanta or Memphis, St. Louis or DC. An agency can hire a little farm town kid with an associate degree and no criminal record, and guess what folks, he is not going to do the job. Old cops know who can do the job and who canýt. The selection process for this police departments takes in consideration the physical aspect of the job! You have guys out there with multiple assault charges on police officers on the loose, people who would murder for a dollar bill. I know a guy who walked out during the Police Academy training after watching some documentaries on murdered cops. It takes a lot to be a cop, including streets smarts. Gang members from the Texas Syndicate not only control a portion of the border and have millions of dollars, but they speak in Aztec. Thatýs right, very secretive. Just cause you never smoked pot, or never got in a fight, which is normal adolescent behavior in an urban setting, does not mean you would make a good agent!
By Still Looking
Feb 28, 2009 10:19 AM | Link to this
It was just last year in May that I applied with a major local county police department in the metro Atlanta and was turned down because of my driving history, which included only speeding violations up until the time I turned 20. I have had no other interactions with law enforcement. I am a white female, with a criminal justice college degree and never made it past the inital written application. No one from this agency ever even spoke to me in person. I was dismissed based on written information I willingly provided them on my application. I am currently in a relationship with a Dekalb County officer who knows and works with officers in Dekalb and Atlanta who were convicted of felonies, but then hired because their felonies were wiped clean by the "First Offenders Act". Someone tell me this was fair?
By TWood
Feb 18, 2009 12:01 PM | Link to this
I find this odd because I applied for the APD in 1994 and was turned down cold because I admitted to using marijuana a handful of times in college. that was it. either their standards have been lowered significantly in the past decade or they didn't want a white female.
By Pastor McCoy
Feb 6, 2009 4:24 PM | Link to this
I commend them for giving these people second chances, I made some mistakes in my past, that I regret, but I regret most is that many places dont give me a second chance. Thank You City of Atlanta!
By James Caldwell
Feb 4, 2009 12:23 PM | Link to this
All I can say about mistakes in the past, especially for me is that I was no older than five years old living On the south side of Chicago when observing criminal behavior became normal. As I got older, with my dad a drug addict and my mom a heavy drinker, house fights were common. I begin living like how I was raised to live when one day I got incarcerated for doing to my girlfriend what my dad and stepdad did to my mom.From that point I had to figure out with the little knowledge I had that living like that, no matter how racist the justice system is or no matter how difficult it is for a black man to succeed in America with all this racism, that I was determined to change my life. Now with one strike on my record My college professor told me that I could never get into the field of anti-terrorism. I understand why young black men decide to continue down a negative path once they get into some trouble, but I refuse to subjugate my self to thinking and believing that I can not follow my dreams. So for me being conditioned to be a gang member and living in a house of thug life was not enough for me to stay on the negative path. I guess it was because I seen what this society has in store for those who walk that path and I intend to prove the system wrong, even if it is racist. What does a young guy such as myself do? give up on my dreams and become a minimum wage janitor. Or just drop out of school completely? I choose none of the above. And finally most cops who do have "squeaky clean records" hide behind their badge to get away with crime. How many stories in the news are about black cops who use brutal force on a white male or female?
ý James Caldwell
By James Caldwell
Feb 4, 2009 12:18 PM | Link to this
All I can say about mistakes in the past, especially for me is that I was no older than five years old living On the south side of Chicago when observing criminal behavior became normal. As I got older, with my dad a drug addict and my mom a heavy drinker, house fights were common. I begin living like how I was raised to live when one day I got incarcerated for doing to my girlfriend what my dad and stepdad did to my mom.From that point I had to figure out with the little knowledge I had that living like that, no matter how racist the justice system is or no matter how difficult it is for a black man to succeed in America with all this racism, that I was determined to change my life. Now with one strike on my record My college professor told me that I could never get into the field of anti-terrorism. I understand why young black men decide to continue down a negative path once they get into some trouble, but I refuse to subjugate my self to thinking and believing that I can not follow my dreams. So for me being conditioned to be a gang member and living in a house of thug life was not enough for me to stay on the negative path. I guess it was because I seen what this society has in store for those who walk that path and I intend to prove the system wrong, even if it is racist. What does a young guy such as myself do? give up on my dreams and become a minimum wage janitor. Or just drop out of school completely? I choose none of the above. And finally most cops who do have "squeaky clean records" hide behind their badge to get away with crime. How many stories in the news are about black cops who use brutal force on a white male or female?
ý James Caldwell
By Jimmy
Jan 26, 2009 12:34 PM | Link to this
It really don't make since to me as to why people feel that in order to be a police officer you have to have had a perfect life. Half of those individuals that sit on the board and makes decision as to whether or not this individual is worth hiring need to go somewhere and sit down. I wish I could be a fly on the wall in some of these individual's houses. I have also been turned down by several agencies including Atlanta because I am in the arrears in child support. I have never had a criminal record, never smoked pot or even tasted a beer. Yet, I am not what they are looking for. I am in my last year in college, majoring in criminal justice, and also on my way to MP training for the military. These agencies need to tell the truth. They don't want individuals that really want to be a police officer and can help bring about a change. They want individuals who believe in bursting in on old ladies and killing them and then lying about it. I really don't believe you can send a person to get a physical, have a voice stress test done and he or she pass all of this and you still tell them they are not what you all are looking for. Please, please, please people tell the truth. If you don't like the person you just don't like them.
By jojo
Jan 6, 2009 5:53 PM | Link to this
oh please, almost 75% of my friends still smoke pot, I do not, however growing up in the 60' & up drug use during the teen years is very common, no big deal, should not DQ a candidate for that or any minor offense or you won't have many ppl to choose from!
By Rafael Gadea
Dec 26, 2008 7:48 PM | Link to this
how are you?
By barney fife
Dec 21, 2008 6:49 PM | Link to this
Several years ago I was a police officer with a metro atlanta (county). There were at least 2 or 3 officers at roll call with alcohol on their breath. It happened 1 or 2 days a month. I was young and a rookie, was afraid to speak out. I'm sure that has changed now.
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