The Knuckleheads of the Day award

Today's winners are 20 Palm Beach County Sheriff's Deputies. Their names are Jimmy Maisonet, Belinda Murvin, Lorrie Wrice, Angel Alava, Francis Wheeler, Kasandra Smith, Bernard Hardemon, Donald Reilly, Sonya McIntosh, Conrad Stewart, Adrian Wallace, Chester Gibson, Sandra Price, Willie King, Reginald Price, Reginald Wright, Major Thornton, Richard Klaysmat, Brenda Gray and Caretha Cason. They get today's award for cheating on exams that would have boosted their salaries. These officers have all been reprimanded by the PBSO.

Read the Sun-Sentinel article below. These deputies are a disgrace. They are supposed to be enforcing the laws, but they themselves are cheats. Letters of reprimand is too light a sentence in TFM's eyes. A trust was broken by these men and women and our law enforcement's integrity damaged. Who is to say they don't cheat in other ways.

For being disgraces to the law enforcement profession, Jimmy Maisonet, Belinda Murvin, Lorrie Wrice, Angel Alava, Francis Wheeler, Kasandra Smith, Bernard Hardemon, Donald Reilly, Sonya McIntosh, Conrad Stewart, Adrian Wallace, Chester Gibson, Sandra Price, Willie King, Reginald Price, Reginald Wright, Major Thornton, Richard Klaysmat, Brenda Gray and Caretha Cason are today's knuckleheads of the day.

Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Bright & Early, Basil's Blog, Cao's Blog, Third World County, TMH's Bacon Bits, The Dumb Ox, Adam's Blog,

Twenty Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office deputies have been reprimanded for improperly obtaining answers on tests for classes intended to boost their performance and salaries.

The deputies, at times, compared answers as a group to tests for classes offered by the Federal Emergency Management Administration, sheriff's office investigators said. The completion of the classes on emergency management preparations enabled the deputies to qualify for steps up the agency's salary scale, with each upgrade carrying a 4.5 percent pay increase.

All the deputies have been charged with violating the agency's ethics rules and have gotten letters of reprimand. Those deputies who moved up in the salary scale have been downgraded and required to return the extra money.

The investigation, which was completed last week, initially reviewed the conduct of 26 deputies who were taking online FEMA classes and applying their certificates toward the "career deputy status" program. That enables non-management law enforcement and corrections deputies to receive higher salaries by meeting the program's performance, experience, skill and educational requirements.

Police Benevolent Association attorney Larry Fagan said the deputies did not set out to deceive or bilk money from the agency. Most didn't realize that it could be implied that something was improper about working together as a group to prepare for a test in an agency that "emphasizes and congratulates teamwork," he said. The agency didn't have policies on taking online tests, he said.

"These are not cheaters," Fagan said. "These deputies as a whole are hardworking, career deputies."

Deputies exploited a "loophole" through the FEMA classes that allowed them to take up to 20 classes a day on the Internet and get certification for them. Investigators determined that many deputies took the tests without getting the required videos, discs and materials needed for the classes.

"Without these study materials, a student cannot properly prepare or study for these specific courses," the internal affairs report said. "If the student does not have the proper study materials or test questions, it is conceivable that the only way a person can pass the test is to obtain the answers improperly and cheat."

There are no safeguards in place to prevent deputies from taking more than one test in a one-day period, investigators found. Students can submit as many test answers to FEMA as they want.

According to the investigative report, Corrections Deputy Jimmy Maisonet took 45 FEMA tests from June 6, 2003 to March 22, 2005, the day he took 20 tests. He told officials he got a breakdown on some of the classes and course material from FEMA's Web site. Investigators figured out that the courses did not have study material on the Internet and required students to contact FEMA directly to order them.

When pressed, Maisonet said initially he didn't remember where he got the material, but later admitted to getting them from a "study group" with co-workers. He further disclosed that he shared notes, test answers and study guides with other deputies and never viewed course discs and videos. He used answers from others when he took the tests.

The agency later rejected his application for advancement in the career deputies program.

In addition to FEMA, the Sheriff's Office accepts classes from other colleges and institutions for the same program.

Sheriff's Capt. Ron Mattino, who oversees the department's training, said a safeguard to prevent future problems should be to require deputies taking the FEMA tests to be supervised in the training office.

Cross Posted to Bullwinkle Blog