Crooked police officers take note: Ray Franklin has your number.
Franklin, the deputy director of the Maryland Police Training Commission, has developed The National Peace Officer Certification System, a shared database that tracks nearly 8,000 police officers nationwide who have had their police powers revoked.
In 2004, nearly 2,000 officers tried to slip through the cracks.
“If they lose their certification to be a police officer in one state, they sometimes go to another state to get a job,” Franklin said. “In the past, information about their record was not shared, and they could sometimes get away with it.”
Problem officers or officers with bad records don?t always end up with convictions that are traceable through criminal databases, according to Franklin. “Sometimes, they are forced to resign or are simply dismissed,” he said.
The database, funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, collects data from “post agencies” ? police regulatory boards that certify officers across the country. The data is stored on a national database that can be checked when officers apply for a job.
“If [an officer] has specific actions against him at another agency, they?ll know,” Franklin said.
The system, which launched last week, collects data regularly from 24 police regulatory boards from across the country. Franklin said the long-term goal is to make the service available to every police agency in the United States.
“Agencies can check on an officer at the front end of the hiring process,” he said. “That?s the key to preventing problems down the road.”
Baltimore County police plan to use the system.
“We think it?s a very good idea and we plan to use [it] as a resource,” said Bill Toohey, spokesman for the Baltimore County Police Department.
