East Falmouth Police Academy director suspended, instructors "temporarily removed" amid investigation
The director of the East Falmouth Police Training Academy and its coordinator have been suspended amid an investigation into allegations of misconduct by academy instructors.
The Municipal Police Training Committee started its investigation on February 26, "to identify specific information related to alleged incidents of misconduct by academy staff and instructors," MPTC Executive Director Rick Rathbun wrote in a letter to police chiefs.
The academy is run by the state and provides basic training to new police officers in Massachusetts.
Instructors removed from positions
According to the letter, concerns were raised by police departments with recruits at the academy. The MPTC temporarily removed all staff instructors from their positions at the academy on February 27 and the academy director and coordinator were suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.
"Any form of hazing, harassment or misconduct is unequivocally unacceptable and goes against our core values of integrity, respect and professionalism," the letter states.
"We encourage anyone with information regarding these allegations to come forward and report their concerns," it continues.
Investigations at MPTC academies
Last year, a WBZ investigation found dozens of instructors at MPTC academies with serious complaints against them.
In November, WBZ reported that MPTC started investigating dozens of police officers for fast-forwarding through mandatory online training.
"We have discovered instances where trainings that should take hours to complete are finished in a matter of minutes," a letter from MPTC to Massachusetts police chiefs stated.
In December, the agency alerted 152 police departments that 487 officers "completed some portion of one or more online in-service trainings in less than the expected run time."
