Multiple probation officers with the Georgia Department of Community Supervision were asked to resign last week, and an internal state investigation is underway.
Superior Court Chief Judge Kristina Cook Graham with the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit confirmed that "several officers" employed with the Department of Community Supervision who worked in the local judicial circuit were asked to resign. Some of the officers asked to resign reported to Graham.
McCracken Poston, an attorney advising a number of the probation officers, said in a statement that they are being accused of cheating on an Americans with Disabilities Act annual training exam. Poston said probation officers are given the same certification test every year and are encouraged to print and keep their printed quizzes for follow-up review.
Poston said one officer is being blamed for sharing the quiz and its answers with everyone in the group, including supervisors, on an open server for all employees in the district.
"Over a week passed with no one addressing the issue," Poston said. "The lack of a prompt reaction proves that, as with multiple agencies throughout the state, the ADA review and quizzes to reinforce the review were unproctored pro forma matters that the administration did not properly administer or advise the officers about, just as it did with the state troopers."
Judge Graham said she has not heard from the state agency about the officers.
"Several of them also worked with our Accountability Courts as well," Graham said in an email Wednesday. "The officers that worked with our courts were dedicated, hard working, and provided exceptional services for us. No one in a management position from the Department of Community Supervision has reached out to me in any form or fashion with any further information."
Brian Tukes, director of the department's external affairs, said he could not comment on the matter because an investigation is ongoing.
The department's field office is located in LaFayette. The office covers Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade and Walker counties as well as the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit. The field office's coordinating chief, Charles "Bo" Payton, could not be reached for comment.
Poston compared this case to the one when an entire graduating class of the Georgia State Patrol's Trooper School was fired for allegedly cheating on an online exam for the speed detection operator component of the school's curriculum. One trooper resigned after the cheating allegations came to light. All 33 troopers were graduates of the 106th Trooper School in August 2019.
In that case, officials learned about the allegation from the girlfriend of one of the cadets, who said she took the online test for him. When confronted about that, the trooper told superiors that "he was not the only one who cheated, the whole class cheated," and that's when the decision was made to investigate the entire class.
However, after a yearlong investigation, Georgia officials cleared all but one member of the training class. The one cadet found to have actually cheated was the one who submitted his resignation.
Just this week, the Georgia Department of Public Safety settled with 26 of the troopers it fired.
All but two of those former troopers were offered their jobs back as part of the agreement, and those reinstated will receive several months of credit for future promotions. The plaintiffs also will share $850,000 in damages, news outlets reported.
The Times Free Press has not been able to confirm how many probation officers were asked to resign or why, but Poston said he has spoken to at least 10.
Contact Patrick Filbin at pfilbin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow him on Twitter @PatrickFilbin.