A Los Angeles police officer is under investigation for allegedly recording the questions to a promotional exam on a pair of camera-equipped smart glasses, “Mission Impossible”-style, with the intention of passing the information to others taking the test.
Department officials have launched a probe into allegations that the officer, perhaps working with others, cheated on a sergeant’s exam this year. In a statement Wednesday the department confirmed that Internal Affairs investigators had obtained a search warrant for multiple officers’ city-owned and personal electronic devices, in an attempt to find evidence of potential wrongdoing.
The officer, whose name and work assignment have not been released, gave a compelled interview to investigators, according to officials.
The department’s release, issued in response to a Times inquiry, said it was investigating whether “a small subset of employees … may have engaged in some unethical behavior” involving the exam, which was taken by roughly 1,600 officers who hope to be included on a promotional list to make sergeant.
While the news release makes no mention of camera glasses, two sources familiar with the investigation but not authorized to discuss it publicly confirmed that was the suspected means of cheating.
Speculation about potential cheating on the exam swirled around the department for weeks. The matter was raised at a senior staff meeting this month, during which interim Chief Dominic Choi stopped short of dismissing the reports as rumor, saying that it was still under investigation. When reached by a Times reporter a few days later, Choi said that the department had no evidence it was true.
Since those initial denials, department officials said, new information came to light that warranted a closer look.
Deputy Chief Michael Rimkunas, of the Professional Standards Bureau, which includes Internal Affairs, said that although the exam is for LAPD officers, it is administered by the city’s Personnel Department, which first began looking into the allegations independently of the LAPD’s Internal Affairs division.
As a result, Rimkunas said, LAPD officials were aware only of “non-specific rumors.” The department proceeded with its own investigation after receiving “additional actionable information” from personnel officials, he said.
“At that time, there were no details about who may be involved or the exact method of who may be cheating,” he said.
Investigators searched the unnamed officers’ devices Tuesday, the department said.
As of Wednesday, the department said that no officers had been relieved of duty in connection with the incident. It also said that it wasn’t clear what bearing, if any, the allegations would have on the exam’s results. Potential sergeant candidates also face oral interviews, which have been put on hold, according to a department email obtained by The Times.
A spokesperson for the Personnel Department said that he would have to confer with the department’s general manager before discussing the case.
