State to investigate test cheating by Richmond County school police
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - An outside investigation confirmed Richmond County School System police officers cheated on training tests – and now a state accreditation agency will investigate the matter, too.
The investigation revealed sharing of questions and answers on online tests that were required for officers to stay state-certified. The answers were shared by text message and by calling them out loud when multiple people were being tested.
The July 10 executive summary of the report by Education Planners was obtained by News 12 under an open records request.
The report states that an unnamed whistleblower reported the problem, and the police chief brought it to the attention of district s.
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Despite assurances to the whistleblower that he or she would remain unnamed, the officer feels they’ve been the subject of retaliation by one of two officers singled out by investigators for the cheating.
The investigators said they found:
- On March 7, the annual use-of-force class was assigned to the department as part of training mandated by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council.
- On March 11. l. Kara Lundy completed the course virtually. Later, that day, Lundy took screenshots of it and sent answers to a group of officers via text message.
- On March 11, an officer who wished to remain anonymous got a text message from Lundy with questions and answers from a recent test.
- On March 11, the whistleblower brought it to the attention of a captain.
- On March 12, the anonymous officer got a text from Sgt. Dorothy Holmon acknowledging the text from Lundy and saying ‘’thanks.”
- On March 12, the anonymous officer met with Police Chief Mantrell Wilson to make him aware of the matter.
The investigators interviewed eight officers, including Lundy and Holmon.
“In our interviews, Corporal Lundy confirmed that she had sent questions and answers to fellow officers,” the investigators wrote. “She also stated she knows it was wrong.”
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The investigators noted that as discipline for the breach, Lundy got a suspension and letter of reprimand and was removed from the emergency response team.
The investigators said Lundy told them she felt the suspension and reprimand were fair but removal from the emergency response team was too severe.
Investigators wrote that in interviews, Holmon “was less definitive but acknowledged that she ‘probably’ had shared test questions and answers with department officers a year ago and ‘might” have shared them in February 2024.
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She also stated that “everyone had done this,” investigators wrote.
She also said that when the officers took tests in the same room, they all called out answers.
“She stated she now understands what they cannot do,” investigators wrote.
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In a follow-up interview, Holmon was more forthcoming than before and itted sharing test questions and answers, investigators wrote.
She told investigators that if Lundy had been disciplined, she should be, too, investigators wrote.
The investigators agreed, recommending Holmon get the same level of discipline as Lundy.
Whistleblower alleges retaliation
The investigators said the anonymous officer said he or she felt they were being “retaliated against for reporting misconduct” by Holmon.
Additionally, the officer felt the reporting was not held confidential as was requested and had been assured, investigators said.
In a follow-up interview with investigators, the whistleblower said after he or she reported the problem, the officer was documented by Holmon “for insubordination and not turning on his/her body camera,” investigators wrote.
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The whistleblower felt this was in retaliation for reporting the matter.
“Also stated by the officer, the feeling of isolation by other officers and has since been reassigned to a different Zone and a different Supervisor,” investigators wrote.
The officer said he or she had not made a report to POST but had ed the Police Benevolent Association, which provides representation in cases where an officer may feel unfairly treated.
Investigators stressed that the whistleblower should be shielded from retaliation.
Wilson told investigators he felt the officer was justifiably documented for violating body camera protocol.
Why POST will investigate
Wilson said that in addition to bringing the testing irregularities to the attention of top district s, he made Alex Meers of POST aware of the concerns and asked for further direction. Meers said if no one was terminated, the situation could be handled internally, according to investigators.
However, News 12 ed POST, and its deputy director said the agency actually was going to investigate the matter.
“Anytime integrity is an issue, it’s a very serious matter for POST, and POST is going to open an investigation based on what we’ve seen,” Chris Harvey said.
“Every law enforcement officer, every peace officer in Georgia, has to take 20 hours of continuing education every year,” Harvey said. “A lot of it’s done online. Some of it’s done in person, and there’s some specific areas that they have to focus on: use of force, human trafficking, gang awareness, community-oriented policing, de-escalation, stuff like that. And then they have options for other essentially elective continuing education. If somebody doesn’t get 20 hours every year, then their certification can be suspended.”
OFFICERS’ POST FILES:
What happens in a case like this?
“We will do it a full investigation,” Harvey said. “We’ll present the findings to the Probable Cause Committee of the POST Council. They will make a recommendation that. The sanction can be anything from no action to determining agency action is sufficient. It could be probation with required remedial training. It could be suspension or it could be revocation of their certification.”
Looking ahead, Harvey said: “I don’t want to get too far into the details of what may or may not be in the investigation, but, anytime misconduct is alleged, we investigate it, and we hold people able for their actions or inactions.”
Integrity is important, Harvey said.
“Integrity is, you know, it’s really at the root of what a peace officer is all about. And so anything that is an integrity issue is something the council generally takes pretty seriously.”
What the police chief has done about the problem
Wilson suspended all virtual testing and drafted a policy on honesty and integrity and required all officers to sign it.
Wilson told investigators testing protocol and security was severely lacking and needed immediate attention.
The investigators agreed, recommending a dedicated time and place for testing, an independent proctor, an emphasis on integrity and a signed statement from officers that they took their tests without outside help
READ THE REPORT:
The investigation was requested by Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Bradshaw and Deputy Superintendent Horace Dunson and was conducted by James Wilson and Dr. Randy Reece, both experienced school system investigators familiar with the district.
Wilson is the chief executive officer of Education Planners and Reece is the executive vice president.
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