根据当地出版物《先驱公报》的报道，来自印第安纳州埃奇伍德的一名警官最近被判犯有鲁莽杀人罪，在加入警队之前从未进行过适当的背景调查。根据印第安纳州法律，法律不要求警察部门对其新员工或新员工进行任何背景调查。在当时担任警察局长的人的推荐下，这名警官于 2003 年加入了埃奇伍德警察局。由于推荐来自这样一个值得信赖的来源，镇元帅选择不进行背景调查。
最终，该决定被证明是非常值得怀疑的。2014 年 4 月，该警官在下班时将他的 SUV 开到另一辆车的后座上。他撞的车上有两名乘客，一对已婚夫妇，他们将在当天晚些时候生下他们的第一个孩子。碰撞的力量杀死了丈夫，尽管妻子在事故发生后几个小时幸存下来并生下了一个健康的女儿。
据《先驱报》报道，这名警官因这起事件受到两项重罪指控：一项是“鲁莽杀人”，一项是“鲁莽造成严重身体伤害”。他在 8 月对两项指控认罪，并因其罪行被判 11 年徒刑，其中包括 8 年监禁。印第安纳州上诉法院最近刚刚确认了判决。
案件的转折点是，可以说这名警官一开始就不应该被雇佣到埃奇伍德警察局。《先驱公报》报道说，当他被聘用时，该警官总共面临17 次驾照吊销。他的记录显示了大量超速罚单和三项因吊销驾照而被定罪的情况。
由于警察的大部分工作都与驾驶车辆有关，因此这些指控很可能会取消该男子的工作资格。然而，由于从未进行过背景调查，因此部队中没有人知道这名警官严重无视交通法规。
很难说背景调查是否会阻止 2014 年 4 月导致该警官被定罪的车祸。毕竟，当碰撞发生时，警官正在下班。尽管如此，一个驾驶记录如此糟糕的人担任的职务是他可以向其他人提出交通违规行为，这一事实可能会冒犯一些印第安纳州的纳税人。警官的驾驶导致了这样的悲剧，这突显了该州对警察背景调查进行立法的必要性。
The Herald Bulletin. Under Indiana law, police departments are not legally required to run any background checks on their new hires or recruits. The officer in question joined the Edgewood Police Department in 2003, on the recommendation of the man who was serving as Police Captain at the time. Since the recommendation came from such a trusted source, the Town Marshal opted not to run a background check.
Ultimately, that decision proved highly questionable. In April 2014, the officer in question was off-duty when he drove his SUV into the back of another car. The car he hit had two passengers, a married couple who were due to give birth to their first child later that day. The force of the collision killed the husband, though the wife survived and gave birth to a healthy daughter just hours after the crash.
The police officer got two felony charges for the incident, according to the Herald Bulletin report: one charge of "reckless homicide" and one charge of "criminal recklessness inflicting serious bodily injury." He pleaded guilty to both charges in August and earned an 11-year sentence for his crimes, include eight years behind bars. The Indiana Court of Appeals just affirmed the sentencing recently.
The twist in the case is that the officer arguably never should have been hired to the Edgewood Police Department in the first place. The Herald Bulletin reported that, when he was hired, the officer had faced a total of 17 driver's license suspensions. His record showed a slew of speeding tickets and three convictions for driving with a suspended license.
Since such a large part of a police officer's job revolves around operating a vehicle, those charges would likely have disqualified the man from a job with the force. However, since a background check never took place, no one on the force knew about the officer's egregious disregard for traffic laws.
Whether or not a background check would have prevented the April 2014 crash that resulted in the officer's convictions is hard to say. After all, the officer was off-duty when the collision occurred. Still, the fact that a man with such a poor driving record held a position where he could give citations to other people for traffic violations is something that will likely offend more than a few Indiana taxpayers. That the officer's driving led to such a tragedy only underlines the need for a legislated police background check requirement in the state.
