State investigating police officers conning annual online training courses

State officials suspended access to an online police training program after some officers "bypassed" the program to complete their annual courses quickly.

"We have discovered instances where trainings that should take hours to complete are finished in a matter of minutes," Chief Jeff Farnsworth, executive director of the Municipal Police Training Committee, wrote in a letter to the state's police chiefs on Nov. 13.

All sworn officers in Massachusetts required to complete 40 hours of in-service training each year to stay up to date on laws, policies and procedures.

Farnsworth said officers used technology to "override controls" intended to prevent skipping through the training.

The committee is working with Acadis, which supplies the training software, to find out the extent of the issue and "implement any remedial measures necessary," according to Farnsworth.

The committee said officers who fail to complete training properly — by completing it in less than the minimum time allotted — will be required to attend in-person sessions.

Their names will also be reported to the Police Officer Standards and Training Commission.