Fired recruits?

[phil 15]

Any info about Cobb Co. PD firing a whole recruit class at their academy for cheating?

[CPDjock]

Another thread that's already going has a news article about it.

[stealth600]

Any info about Cobb Co. PD firing a whole recruit class at their academy for cheating?

This is the latest story that I have seen about the recruits.

Fired Recruits: We Were Following Orders

POSTED: 5:37 pm EDT August 9, 2006
UPDATED: 5:52 pm EDT August 9, 2006

COBB COUNTY -- Some of the Cobb County police recruits fired in a cheating scandal are speaking out today. The recruits tell Channel 2 they were just following orders when an academy instructor allegedly caught them cheating on an exam.

Channel 2 talked with about a half dozen members of that former recruit class who were down at police headquarters Wednesday turning in the last of their gear. They didn’t want to show their faces because they still hope to salvage their careers in law enforcement. But they bristle at the perception that they conspired to cheat their way to becoming cops.

“I don’t think it’s the intention of any one of us to absolve ourselves of any responsibility,” says one recruit.

County officials say they fired the 20 recruits for cheating on a state-mandated test. But some of the recruits told Channel 2, they were just doing what they had been told.

“There was one occasion where the officer came in and told us we had a certain amount of time to complete an exam, uh, he’s going to leave the room, we’re going to converse amongst ourselves and collectively come up with the answers to the test,” explains one former recruit.

The former recruits say this had all started early in their time at the academy. The entire class had failed one of the first state-mandated tests. Their instructor was furious, yelling at them saying ‘how could all 20 fail this test?’. He said they were all to work together in the future to pass the remainder of the tests.

“There was an instance where we took a state mandated test, where we were told that one half of the class did questions 1 through 25 and the other half of the class did questions 26 through 50, and we cross filled in our answer sheets accordingly,” said another former police recruit.

It was only when an academy sergeant came into the room during a test, and saw two of the recruits talking, that all 20 were questioned then terminated.

“And that was the first time that we were told by someone in a position of authority that we were doing something wrong,” explains a recruit.

The half dozen recruits told Channel 2 Wednesday that they still hoped to pursue a law enforcement career – in a place other than Cobb County – and they hope telling their story at least helps others understand.

The recruits want to tell their story to POST – a state agency that certifies law enforcers in the state. There may be an investigation done by POST after Cobb County forwards the agency their files – the recruits they plan to make sure their word is included in any such investigation.
Copyright 2006 by WSBTV.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[NDubs55]

what were they cheating on? Just the written tests?

[stealth600]

what were they cheating on? Just the written tests?

As far as I know, all wriiten test given in the academies are multiple choice questions that are picked from a question database from GA POST. So I can only assume that it was a multiple choice test. When I was in the academy, about 50% of the two classes failed the first test given. Many of those recruits said it was because they studied their notes from the instructors instead of the material that was in the Ports. But we did our fair share of pushups and less people failed the remaining tests.

[Michael412]

Are the tests THAT hard? I was told they were pretty easy.

[Turn #1]

Check the thread in The Squad Room fellas. It explains it all.

[kcolg]

no actually the tests are very easy. I scored a 100 on at least 3 of the state tests. The only thing I failed were the first two attempts at the small cone course (obviously I made it on the third)

[DeltaBravo404]

Even criminal proceduces is a joke... I never studied for a single test, and never scored less than a 94 on any test durring my academy... Sucks for them...

[miked6]

no actually the tests are very easy. I scored a 100 on at least 3 of the state tests. The only thing I failed were the first two attempts at the small cone course (obviously I made it on the third)

That cone course is a b*tch, and don't hit the Mayor!

[RBrodowski]

I work for Cobb and just got back from my honeymoon so I've been out of the loop and just heard about this today. I don't understand how all 20 recruits failed one test....the tests were a joke. There are very few people who actually fail a test and when one fails a test, they usually don't fail another one. You're under heavy scruteny when you're in the academy, you don't cheat. When I was there, there may have been people asking questions amongst each other for some of the more difficult questions....but I was usually the first to finish the tests so I didn't really see much. They won't be police officers in any halfway decent department in Georgia.