"Oh, there was some shooting going on and I believe some first aid, too, but I can't put my hands on any paperwork for it," said Chief Lowe of the Vergennes Police Department told the Burlington Free Press, trying to recollect the training he received during 2007 and 2008. "We as a department and I as chief fell extremely short here. I guess complacency kind of fell into place."

The News reported on May 7 that Chief Lowe has been under investigation by the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council [VCJTC]. The chief sought waivers for improper reporting of first aid and fire arms training for himself and his staff.

Then, last week, the State Police reported that Chief Lowe had collided with a parked vehicle.

The responding Trooper observed that Chief Lowe was displaying signs of possible impairment. Further investigation revealed that the Chief had consumed prescribed prescription medication.

Standardized field sobriety tests were administered and an evaluation by a drug recognition expert was conducted. The field sobriety tests and evaluation indicated that Chief Lowe was under the influence of drugs according to a press release from the New Haven barracks.

Chief Lowe was processed for driving under the influence of drugs and a sample of his blood was taken for testing.

The Chief was released without being charged with a crime. The case is pending the toxicology results. Any prosecution will be handled by the Vermont Department of State's Attorneys and Sheriffs Association, Executive

Director's Office said Captain Patch of the State Police.

In the earlier matter, the chief stated on the forms submitted to the VCJTC that training had been completed, but was found to have no records whatsoever to corroborate his reports.

Likewise, several of his officers were also seeking waivers since there were no records that they had completed training.

Additionally, an officer on the chief's staff who also is a VCJTC staff member, was claimed to have completed training with no records to back up the claims.

Chief Lowe requested that he be allowed to complete 50 hours of training in 2009, to include two firearms re-qualifications and two first aid sessions that could be applied back to 2007 and 2008, respectively.

South Burlington Police Department Captain Todd who is chairman of the VCJTC, which controls the police certification process told the Burlington Free Press "we are reaching out to every department to make sure that all their officers are up to date and current with their training,"

Captain Shepard said the council has found numerous instances where the training reports alleging that an officer's training was up to date lacked proper documentation or, in certain cases, was inaccurate.

"In those cases, the officer is being put on notice of the potential for decertification," he said. "If there is no verification for training, we need to see a plan to get them up to speed or proof the training did occur."

The pressure to get police department training records straightened out is being driven by the case of Northfield Police Chief Jeff Shaw, Attorney General William Sorrell told the Free Press.

Mr. Sorrell said that he hopes the decertification action facing Chief Shaw will "set an example" and cause police officers elsewhere to make sure their training records are valid and up to date.

"Because of the Shaw case, by shining a light on this problem, what you're seeing now is departments taking this training issue more seriously," the attorney general told the Free Press.

In the first meeting of the council's waiver committee after the Shaw case went public, the panel's agenda included requests for remedying training questions involving 44 officers from 21 law enforcement agencies across the state according to council records.

Mr. Sorrell told the Free Press that it was wrong to compare the conduct of Chiefs Lowe and Shaw and hinted that information will be made public soon that demonstrates his point.

The attorney general also acknowledged that Chief Shaw was facing a more severe penalty because that was a way to signal to other police agencies what the consequences are for not keeping training records accurate and up to date.

"One thing you do in enforcing the law sometimes is set an example in order to develop a message, like in DUI and shoplifting cases," he told the Free Press. "I'm not totally surprised departments are ... being much more attentive in meeting their training obligations and being truthful and careful filling out their forms," he concluded.

In January, the council voted to decertify Chief Shaw after receiving a letter from Attorney General William Sorrell saying that Shaw had falsely submitted paperwork indicating he had undergone various trainings between 2002 and 2007.

Chief Shaw appealed the council's decision, and the matter remains pending with no date set for a hearing on the appeal.