MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — Eight recruits for the Connecticut State Police were terminated from the program after an investigation revealed they had violated the academy's rules, officials said on Tuesday.
The issue came up in February, and officials decided to conduct an internal investigation regarding the situation, according to Public Safety Commissioner James Rovella.
After an internal investigation, the state police Termination Board recommended that the eight recruits in question be dismissed from the training program after violating the cheating and plagiarism section of the Connecticut State Police Academy Rules and Regulations.
"A trooper put a test onto a study guide site, which it shouldn't have been, but it was clearly marked as 'exam,'" explained Rovella. "Sixty-one cadets were told not to access that exam, not to look at it, 53 of them got it and didn't play with that exam."
As for the eight other cadets, some downloaded, printed, and/or worked within the file, which contained an accident investigation final exam, Rovella told FOX61. The cadets had also failed to be truthful of what had happened, even though Rovella said there were several chances for veracity, which proved to be "very concerning" to academy officials.
"That in itself really follows the police officer through their career especially if it comes to testifying and making an arrest," Rovella told FOX61 on Wednesday.
"Every chief faces the same calamity that if you have an untruthful officer, you can't do very much with them," he later added.
The recruits were dismissed on Tuesday, officials said. This is a situation that officials said they are not taking lightly.
“From start to finish, we demand that our recruits maintain the integrity of the Connecticut State Police," said Colonel Stavros Mellekas, who later added, "The men and women of the State Police are expected to hold themselves to the highest standards in law enforcement. When those standards are not met, a process for review must be followed to determine if recruits are worthy of earning the title of ‘State Trooper.'’’
Those 53 remaining members of the 131st Training Troop are scheduled to graduate on Thursday, March 24.
Rovella said that this was an isolated incident.
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