North Carolina Community College Suspends Police Program Over Violent Training and Falsified Records

A law enforcement program at a North Carolina community college has been suspended for at least five years following reports of excessive violence against cadets and falsified training records.

Six Blue Ridge Community College instructors will face hearings in August, according to News 13, following the discovery of violent behavior in a training video. The North Carolina Criminal Justice Standards Division said that the conduct not only jeopardized the health, safety and welfare of students but also fell outside the state's training objectives.

The video shows instructors in heavy padding beating, wrestling and punching cadets in the head. The standards division deemed this excessive violence, noting that the staff failed to address it and that the instructors were allegedly not certified trainers, but rather martial artists.

"He's striking the recruit in the head several times," University of South Carolina Excellence in Policing and Public Safety Senior Advisor Marc Brown told News 13. "Now, the helmets that you're issued in training weren't made to take full-on punishment."

The program also falsified student participation in the physical ability test for police officers and failed to ensure all trainees completed the testing. Additionally, state investigators reported that a student fractured their spine during a patrol exercise in 2023.

"The point of the basic law enforcement training is to achieve and demonstrate a minimum level of competency for those training to be officers. Failure to verify these places both the students and public at risk for potential incompetence," the standards division said in a statement.

Blue Ridge has defended its response to the allegations, asserting that it paused its program and self-reported the issues after receiving concerns from the state.

"The issues raised in the [May] letter from the Criminal Justice Standards Commission to suspend our program for a period of five years are of great concern to our team and are matters that we are actively working to resolve in order to meet the future needs of our law enforcement partners in the region," school officials said in a statement.

Instructors David Adams, Bryan Baldwin, Joseph Ellis, Danny Godman, Kenneth Hamby and Matthew Owen have had their certifications suspended pending the August hearings.

This year's cadet class was transferred to A-B Tech Community College following the suspension of the Blue Ridge Program. During a graduation ceremony on Wednesday, Blue Ridge President Laura Leatherwood didn't directly address the recent issues at the school, but stressed the importance of accountability.

"When my own actions or those of others are not upheld, then I take steps to quickly accept responsibility and then address them where actions fell short of the goals. As a law enforcement officer, you'll also be responsible for your actions; this applies to everything you will do on and off the job," she said.