Prince George's Police Academy Director Replaced

Prince George's Community College has replaced the head of the police academy it runs for small departments and hired a consultant in an effort to meet state training standards.

But two months after assuring the state that it could certify that the academy meets those goals, the college still cannot produce records showing that its recent graduates all were taught, tested on and passed required areas, a state official said Tuesday. The academy is barred from offering new training classes until it can satisfy state auditors.

Thirty-five rookies from 21 police agencies who graduated in 2008 and 2009 already were forced to repeat some course work beginning in November after state officials could not find complete records during a routine audit. But the academy failed to keep solid records again, and those 35 face being recalled another time, said Albert Liebno, head of skills training for the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commissions.

The problems at the academy already have caused three officers -- in Hyattsville, Bladensburg and Laurel -- to be assigned desk duties while their academic records are sorted through, Liebno said. The trouble lies with the academy, not with the officers, he said.

"Academy records remain a mess," Liebno said. "There are documents missing, and others hopscotch around so much that we can see some people in classes who had grades recorded but others in the same class didn't. Some tests results are there, some aren't. But there is no pattern to it."

As of Friday, academy director Wendell Brantley "is no longer employed by the college," said Daniel Mosser, the college's vice president for workforce development and continuing education. Regina Taylor-White, a retired major with the Prince George's County Police Department and a former instructor at its academy, has been hired to remedy state concerns about the most recent graduates within 30 days. She also will come up with long-term improvements during the next three months, Mosser said.

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