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PSP Cheating Scandal Report

HARRISBURG — The results of an investigation released Friday into the Pennsylvania State Police Academy found instructors created a climate of cheating at...

HARRISBURG -- The results of an investigation released Friday into the Pennsylvania State Police Academy found instructors created a climate of cheating at the institution.

The state inspector general launched its investigation last year after a cheating scandal resulted in 40 cadets leaving the academy.

The report from state Office of Inspector General found the institution that trains people to be state police officers dysfunctional and outdated.

The cadet class stained by a cheating scandal was the smallest in recent years.

Last spring, 38 cadets were either booted or quit in the wake of that scandal.

And now the state inspector general blames the cheating, in part, on a lax attitude at the academy.

"There is an underlying issue here, that there was an institutional culture that had been created," said Pennsylvania Inspector General Bruce Beemer.

Beemer's report concludes academy instructors routinely gave test answers to cadets.

One cadet told investigators that academy instructors treated some courses as "a joke."

Investigators also found the same tests had been used for more than a decade, allowing older cadets to pass test answers down to newer cadets.

"Oftentimes not even changing the questions or rotating questions around, let alone changing the content or having multiple tests," said Beemer.

Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Tyree Blocker, who asked for the investigation in March, said the report showed a training system that was out of date.

"We need to do a better job in the 21st century with our training methodologies," Blocker said.

The report recommended the academy make some changes, including limiting instructor's terms to five years and having more outside monitoring of the testing system.

Commissioner Blocker says many of the recommendations have already been put in place.

Read the entire report here.

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