Jan 4, 2008 6:06 pm US/Eastern
I-Team: Source Of BPD Exam Scandal Still Unknown
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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The department has spent months investigating what happened and the commissioner says his own officers didn't cooperate.
WBZ
There is new information on a scandal that embarrassed the Boston police this summer.
WBZ's I-Team first broke this story -- Boston police officers accused of cheating on a promotion exam.
The department has spent months investigating what happened and the commissioner says his own officers didn't cooperate.
It was a cheating scandal that could have given Boston police officers an edge to a promotion.
Some detective candidates were told which books to study for the June promotional test and which to ignore.
Six months later, after an internal investigation, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis says the department came up empty trying to find out the source of the leak. "What's difficult is the level of cooperation, or the lack thereof, and that is what we're really dealing with here. Whether it's a murder investigation or on the street where people don't want to cooperate, or it's an internal investigation. We need the help of the public, or in this case, the help of the police officers to solve the crime."
The I-Team has learned eight detectives on the exam committee were told by the company that made up the test that there were no questions from one entire book on the test. Then word spread throughout the department. "It's possible that one of the eight people told someone who put it out, but we can't be definitive as to who's responsible for that," said Davis.
According to internal documents obtained by the I-Team, MAMLEO, the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers first warned the commissioner, 10 days before the exam, that test information had been leaked. "It's a disappointing situation when something like this happens and we can't get to the bottom of it," said Davis.
At the time, members of MAMLEO and the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association were outrage that someone who took the oath compromised the test.
Even though the department didn't get to the bottom of the scandal, it did force sweeping changes when it comes to promotional exams.
The president of MAMLEO, Angela Williams-Mitchell, says the department speaks a good game, but doesn't follow through.
She says "morale is low and officers don't want to take any more exams because this is a farce and has left a bad taste in their mouths."
The commissioner says the department's quick action to throw out the original tests shows how serious he took it.
The commissioner says it cost the department about $30,000 to re-issue the exam, and that doesn't include the exam company's contract and the money to investigate.
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