Apr 25, 2019   SOURCE: BusinessWire

USA TODAY NETWORK Investigation Exposes System Allowing Police Officers With Troubled Records to Run Law Enforcement Agencies Across the Country

USA TODAY NETWORK, part of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), today launched the first installment of its investigation into how U.S. police officers with records of serious misconduct are able to rise to the jobs of police chief and sheriff in communities across the country. USA TODAY NETWORK reporters analyzed disciplinary records from hundreds of police departments and state licensing boards in nearly every state and published for the first time a list of more than 30,000 law enforcement officers who have been decertified, essentially banned from the profession in their states.

USA TODAY NETWORK reporters found that dozens of U.S. police agencies, mostly in small towns, appear to be headed by officers with records of misconduct. The reporters identified at least eight people who became police chiefs or sheriffs despite previously being found guilty of a crime. Others had amassed records of domestic violence, improperly withholding evidence, falsifying records, or other conduct that could impact the public they swore to serve.

The first story in the investigative series examines how a law enforcement officer who had been fired for a felony and again for perjury ended up the police chief of Amsterdam, Ohio – a struggling former steel town in the hills west of Pittsburgh where the boarded-up businesses outnumber the open ones. The investigation identified more than 30 other chiefs and sheriffs with troubled histories. One chief in Arkansas landed a job even though city officials knew that he had crashed his car into a house then falsely reported that it had been stolen. The chief of a Kansas college’s police force had been charged with a felony years earlier for dragging a man out of his car at gunpoint.

The police chiefs and sheriffs identified in the investigation are high-ranking examples of how easy it can be for police officers to escape records of misconduct at a time when departments of all sizes have struggled to attract recruits and information about how police officers carry out their jobs remains largely scattered in files held by thousands of different agencies.

The unprecedented database of police discipline records gathered by USA TODAY breaks through the secrecy that has allowed troubled officers to keep their jobs by moving from one department to another, or from state to state.

“We’re trying to bring transparency and accountability to one of the most basic functions of local government,” said Chris Davis, executive editor and vice president of investigations for USA TODAY NETWORK. “When an officer can assault someone, lie in court or steal taxpayer money and all of it can be kept secret from the public, everyone should demand better.”

The first installment of the investigative series will be featured Thursday on “CBS This Morning,” between 7-9 am ET.

For more information on the project, visit policefiles.usatoday.com.

About USA TODAY NETWORK

USA TODAY NETWORK, part of Gannett Co, Inc. (NYSE: GCI), is the largest local-to-national media organization in the country, powered by our award-winning newsrooms and marketing solutions business. With deep roots in local communities spanning the U.S. with more than 100 brands, plus USA TODAY, we engage more than 125 million people every month through a diverse portfolio of multi-platform content offerings and experiences. For more information, visit www.gannett.com.