Reports of Cheating Bring Call by Fire Chief for New Job Exams

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Michael Freeman called Friday for the retesting of about 5,000 firefighter applicants who recently took an entry-level aptitude examination marred by reports of possible cheating.

“I have concluded that the results of this test cannot be relied upon,” Freeman said. “I think confidence in the results has been damaged.”

Freeman said he has asked the county’s Internal Services Department, which prepared, administered and provided security for the challenged exam, to prepare and administer a new test. He estimated that retesting will cost tens of thousands of dollars.

“We will notify all the candidates that took this test and advise them of the date and time for retesting,” he said.

Freeman’s actions came swiftly on the heels of a hurry-up ISD investigation of rumors that an unknown number of candidates may have breached the security of the test by studying the actual examination in advance.

Reports on Thursday alleged that authorities had received a copy of an exam used to tutor some applicants that was exactly the same as the official version. But Freeman said on Friday that investigators determined the tutoring exam is not an exact copy of the official test.

“They (ISD investigators) did determine there was no security breach in that they have accounted for all test booklets that were used,” Freeman said.

The chief said, however, that there were a “significant number of the same questions available to candidates” who may have had copies of the tutoring exam. But Freeman said it is possible that the verbatim questions could have come from previous tests or from practice exams.

Freeman noted that tutorial sessions are provided by a number of organizations, and it is difficult to target anyone for wrongdoing.

“Right now,” Freeman said, “it does not appear that there were improprieties on anyone’s part. Of course, I will continue to gather information and develop a complete picture of what occurred. If additional action is necessary, I certainly will take it.”

County investigators were unavailable late Friday to comment on how many questions on the official test of department applicants recently could appear in verbatim form elsewhere.

Also, it was not immediately known how long it will take ISD testers to rewrite the entry-level examination, aimed basically at testing mechanical aptitude, and re-administer it to thousands of candidates who hope to be included on the Fire Department’s hiring list.

The potential candidates also face crucial oral interviews.

The Fire Department is offering about 200 jobs to the thousands of candidates who have been tested recently. The last qualifying exam was administered about three years ago.

“I think . . . it goes without saying that there is a tremendous interest in the job,” Freeman said.