Terry Baker

"If a guy was caught sleeping on duty 15 times, you can tell them that," said Terry Baker, a supervisor with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
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Florida's Baker said that state's discipline cases range from petty crimes to felonies, but most often involves an officer "being stupid and then lying about it."

Terry Baker, the training and research manager in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's criminal justice professionalism program, said the drug test was a minor issue -- Cronin could have retaken it any time.

But with no fingerprints on file, Cronin never received state certification.

"There is no way for us to determine exactly what happened at that time," Baker said."That appeared to be what kept him from being certified."

He said this rarely happens because normally the local police department notifies FDLE and a new fingerprint is done, but by then Cronin was no longer with Flagler Beach.

"It's unfortunate, and it was pretty much out of his control," Baker said."But we can't go back and re-create that."

Cronin left Flagler Beach in September 1998 thinking he had his certification.He moved to Connecticut and worked on the fugitive recovery team of the Connecticut State Police.

In December, Cronin returned to Florida and applied for a job at the Bunnell Police Department, only to find out that while the department could hire him temporarily, he would have to go back to the police academy.

Baker said Florida statutes require that an officer with a more than a four-year break in service either return to the police academy or qualify for an equivalence of training, during which the officer has to demonstrate proficiency.

Terry Baker, training and research manager in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's criminal justice professionalism program, said the drug test was a minor issue -- Cronin could have retaken it.
...
"There is no way for us to determine exactly what happened at that time," Baker said."That appeared to be what kept him from being certified."

He said this rarely happens because normally the local police department notifies FDLE and a new fingerprint test is done, but by then Cronin was no longer with Flagler Beach.

"It's unfortunate, and it was pretty much out of his control," Baker said.
...
Baker said Florida statutes require an officer with a more than four-year break in service either return to the police academy or qualify for an equivalence of training, during which the officer has to demonstrate proficiency.

ing on duty 15 times, you can tell them that," said Terry Baker, a supervisor with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
...
Florida's Baker said that state's discipline cases include petty crimes and felonies but most often involve an officer "being stupid and then lying about it."