Top police officer caught cheating on 3 straight exams that led to his promotion; he, however, keeps his job

By , K24 Digital
On Wed, 2 Sep, 2020 12:38 | 2 mins read
Lt. Ahmed Othman, was found to have cheated on his sergeant’s, lieutenant’s and captain’s exams. [PHOTO | COURTESY]
Lt. Ahmed Othman, was found to have cheated on his sergeant’s, lieutenant’s and captain’s exams. [PHOTO | COURTESY]
Lt. Ahmed Othman, was found to have cheated on his sergeant’s, lieutenant’s and captain’s exams. [PHOTO | COURTESY]

A New York City Police Department (NYPD) lieutenant, who quickly rose up the ranks through cheating, has been busted. He will, nonetheless, keep his job, the New York Daily News reports.

The senior cop, Lt. Ahmed Othman, was found to have cheated on his sergeant’s, lieutenant’s and captain’s exams between 2013 and 2016.

Othman, who was promoted to captain before an investigation started, was penalised in December 2019 with the loss of 30 vacation days, suspended the same amount of days, and could be fired if he gets in trouble again, the news outlet reports.

It has been established that Othman used to give false excuses to avoid sitting the promotion exams alongside his colleagues, and would, later take the tests after inquiring about the content of the exams from his colleagues who had already been assessed.

“The dodge creates an advantage because it allows the later test taker to question cops who already took the test,” says New York Daily News.

Othman gave false excuses to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services -- a body which administers the test -- on each of the three occasions he was to sit the exams.

Besides losing his 30-day vacation rights and being suspended from work for 30 days, Othman manages to keep his job as a lieutenant. His promotion to the rank of captain, was revoked after it was discovered that he cheated on his way up.

Word of the penalty emerged in the department’s August 25 personnel orders, says the New York Daily News.

“They should have busted him back to cop or fired him,” one officer said. “How do you cheat on three tests and stay on?”

Othman was placed on desk duty at the 73rd Precinct after the internal investigations began following his promotion; later his promotion to captain was rescinded.

In 2016, nine sergeants sued the NYPD alleging the results of the 2015 lieutenant’s test were tainted by cheating.

“If you don’t punish cheaters you encourage cheaters. If someone has cheated all the way to the top, perhaps the appropriate punishment would be to make them go back to the beginning,” said Randolph McLaughlin, an attorney for the sergeants who sued over the tests.

“It’s a slap on the wrist...This is just sweeping the problem under the rug and allowing cheaters to go forward without consequences. If you want people to obey the law, you have to obey the law also,” said McLaughlin of the law firm Newman Ferrara.

Othman is currently assigned to the 30th Precinct.

“Lt. Othman was demoted from the rank of Captain to Lieutenant,” the NYPD said in a statement.

“He had already completed the probationary periods in the ranks of sergeant and lieutenant and could not be demoted further.”

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