It’s been six months since the Homeland Security coordinator at the Vermont Police Academy killed himself and the director resigned. Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell has announced the investigation into what happened at the academy is complete — but he’s not going to show the report to anybody.
The only thing the attorney general will say is that there won’t be any criminal charges filed about what was going on that led to the suicide and the resignation.
The investigation of the academy — which was once under the Department of Public Safety, then the Attorney General’s Office, and is now autonomous — was conducted by the Vermont State Police, which is under the Department of Public Safety.
Allegations that child pornography were found on academy computers were made after the suicide of David McMullen and the resignation of then-director R.J. Elrick. “Inappropriate e-mails” were also allegedly on four employees’ state-owned computers.
The attorney general said child porn was found on two personal computers belonging to McMullen. His work computer had links to files that were likely pornography, but the file contents were not there.
There was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by anyone other than McMullen, Sorrell said.
Beyond that, Sorrell would say nothing. The report is not a public document, the attorney general asserted to the Burlington Free Press. No specific exemption to the public records law was cited.
What goes on at the Vermont Police Academy is of concern to every Vermont citizen. It’s at the Pittsford facility that every police officer in the state is trained. The Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council operates out of the academy facility. The council is the public agency that certifies officers for service once they have completed their training.