Law enforcement academy contract canceled for hinky licensing of pro football player

A Texas law enforcement training center has had its contract with the state rescinded for giving a professional football player credits for law enforcement training he didn't earn. Reported the Conroe Courier (July 24):

The Lone Star College System Law Enforcement Academy’s contract with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement  has been suspended, effective immediately, and the academy is not authorized to conduct any further law enforcement training, according to TCOLE Public Information Officer Laura LeBlanc.

“We did suspend their contract,” LeBlanc said.

The suspension comes after an investigation when TCOLE received a citizen’s complaint alleging that a former academy cadet did not obtain training or complete the academy’s Basic Peace Officer Course according to applicable standards, according to a letter sent to Coordinator Frank Mitchell Jr. by TCOLE Executive Director Kim Vickers and copied to Lone Star College System Chancellor Dr. Richard Carpenter.

LeBlanc withheld the cadet’s name. However, according to The Courier’s news partner Channel 13-KTRK in Houston, the cadet is former Houston Texans defensive standout Mario Williams, who graduated early from the program and now plays for the Buffalo Bills.

Williams managed to complete 660 course hours in only four months, nearly two months ahead of his classmates. He made an Instagram post May 18 showing him at the Montgomery County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office and wrote, “Sworn in,” KTRK Channel 13 said.

An evaluation of the law enforcement academy was conducted July 9 and TCOLE reports numerous violations of its statutes and rules.

According to Vickers’ letter, TCOLE investigators were met with an institutional lack of cooperation.  ...

According to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Training Provider Compliance Standards document, it lists 22 compliance violations by the Lone Star Law Enforcement Academy.

Some rule or standard violations include no firing range contract with Sportsman’s Outlet private range on file where cadets train, no contract in place for police driving training on property with no proprietary interest, advisory board members have not completed the required training with one year of appointment, failure to maintain schedules, files and lesson plans, failure to enforce admission, attendance, retention, and failure to distribute and review commission rules to students for licensing courses.

Regarding Williams, the document stated that an instructor was not supervised during one-on-one off-site instruction with the cadet, the cadet’s attendance records were well below advisory board requirements, no learning objectives or course evaluations from private instruction sessions with the cadet were on file, no testing documentation was available for the cadet and that findings were that testing records were destroyed after the test.