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Updated 22 minutes ago
HARRISBURG — Investigators found evidence of cadet cheating, instructor misconduct and training and testing shortcomings at the Pennsylvania State Police Academy, the state inspector general said in a report released Friday, a year after the scandal first became public.
The 47-page inspector general's report on the probe suggested that the exchange of answer codes, test notes or other forms of advanced test answers was widespread in the class being investigated, as well as in prior cadet classes.
In some cases, instructors and troopers provided those materials to cadets, some of the cadets in the 144th class told investigators. Test content did not often change, even for years, and the academy seemed to lack any guidelines that prohibited troopers and instructors from providing direct answers to cadets in advance. It also seemed to lack a manual for instructors.
Several cadets told investigators “that during test review sessions, instructors provided actual or direct test answers for upcoming Traffic Law, Taser, and Emergency Medical Response examinations,” the report said.
One cadet told investigators that instructors held test review sessions in which the questions they asked would match exam questions.
“It got to the point we didn't need to study, we knew that we would be given what we needed to know,” a cadet told investigators, according to the report. Another cadet said that senior cadets in the prior class had told them, “this is how it would be.”
In one case, an investigator, using only a study guide, passed an emergency medical response test.
The report said the state police began an internal investigation after an academy staff member found a folded, handwritten piece of paper in a hallway that was determined to be a cheat sheet containing 20 answers on a traffic law test.
The state police disclosed their investigation last February and requested the inspector general's investigation. Cadets are subject to a battery of written tests during the more than six months of training. Dozens from the 144th class were dismissed or resigned. With about 6,000 uniformed and civilian personnel, the Pennsylvania State Police is one of the nation's largest law enforcement agencies.
In its response, the state police said they were awaiting final approval from Gov. Tom Wolf's administration to institute a software program that could create unique tests for cadet classes. It also said it had written a new academy policy on the exchange of information.
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