The Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office internal affairs unit is expected to begin interviewing seven investigators on Friday who have been suspended because they are suspected of cheating on an exam that tested their knowledge of Georgia law.
Chief Deputy Scott Freeman told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Thursday the internal investigation should take two or three days and a report on the findings may ready for the sheriff by the middle of next week. Freeman said the sheriff will decide on the next step based on what comes out of the internal investigation and a review by the Georgia Peace Officers Standards and Training Council.
“We need to do this very quickly because we have so many deputies out on paid administrative leave,” Freeman said. “We want to be very thorough and to expedite it as much as possible.”
On Wednesday, seven investigators were notified that they were on paid leave pending the outcome of a investigation that they shared answers on the online test.
Freeman said a sergeant in the sheriff’s office learned of the cheating accusations Friday.
The seven suspended were among 15 investigators assigned to general investigations in the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office. There are a total of 26 investigators in office.
Rockdale Sheriff Eric Levett has since notified District Attorney Richard Read, who said it was too soon to know how this will affect any criminal cases. Three of the suspended deputies were scheduled to appear before a Rockdale County grand jury next week so those cases will be delayed, according to the DA. Cases still under investigation also could be delayed, Read said.
The prosecutor said he will wait for the results of the internal investigation as well as a decision by the Georgia Peace Officers Standards and Training Council.
“It’s too early for me to know,” Read said. “I’ve got to have more facts and more details.”
Freeman said, Rockdale County deputies have been shifted to different assignments to fill gaps created by the suspensions.
“It will be difficult but we are certainly prepared to do what is necessary because the operations of the sheriff’s office must go on and they will go on,” Freeman said.
The internal investigation in Rockdale County comes almost three months after state officials announced that more than 500 Georgia law enforcement officers, taking advantage of a glitch in a new program, might have lied about taking required training online in the last year.
In those instances, officers would go immediately to the end of the training and click “submit” for one or two hours of credit even if only seconds had been spent with the course. In one instance, a deputy in Oconee County claimed 20 hours of training was taken in eight minutes.
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