Allegations of cheating by officers on a promotional exam that swept through the Los Angeles Police Department over the summer were found to be false after an internal investigation, officials said this week.
As first reported by The Times in September, the department probed claims that an LAPD officer recorded questions from a sergeant’s promotional exam using a pair of camera-equipped smart glasses, then passed the information to others taking the test.
The story took on several lives inside the department, according to multiple sources who requested anonymity in order to discuss an internal investigation. In one account, the offending officer was a female officer who supposedly sold the test questions to a group of SWAT team members. Another version pointed the finger at a male officer working out of the Southeast Division.
After the department’s press office began fielding questions, then-interim Chief Dominic Choi raised the matter at a senior staff meeting in September. He stopped short of dismissing the allegations outright, but told The Times a few days later there was no evidence to support the claims.
Deputy chief Michael Rimkunas said the department’s probe is now wrapping up, and investigators have determined no cheating occurred.
“The case is all but closed,” said Rimkunas, who oversees the Professional Standards Bureau, which includes internal affairs.
He would not go into detail about how investigators reached their conclusion, and referred further questions about the exam to the Personnel Department, which has ignored numerous inquiries.
LAPD officers seeking a promotion to sergeant must take an exam, which isn’t offered every year. This year it was offered online, with some officers taking the test before others. Candidates also face oral interviews before being ranked based on their scores.
For weeks, gossip among the rank-and-file and LAPD retirees suggested some officers had unfairly obtained questions beforehand, allowing them to score higher on the test. Suspicions were reportedly aroused when a test-taker was seen repeatedly fidgeting with their glasses frames, according to one source briefed on the probe.
The department didn’t launch its internal investigation until weeks after the exams had been administered, and did so only after receiving “actionable information” from the Personnel Department, which administers the test, according to Rimkunas.
The ensuing probe involved search warrants being served on lockers at the Southeast station and at a residence in Minnesota, from where one officer had taken the test remotely. A pair of glasses was found at one of the locations, but they lacked any recording capabilities, according to two of the sources familiar with the case.
The inspector general’s office, which investigates allegations made against the chief of police and monitors other department complaint investigations, confirmed that it received an email urging them to investigate test cheating.
“Consistent with regular protocols, the OIG is responsible for monitoring all Department investigations such that they are fair, complete, and impartial,” the office said in an emailed statement. “The OIG is also regularly kept abreast of any developments relating to such critical investigations.”