A state legislative rule tells police chiefs and sheriffs that they "shall not seek decertification prior to or in lieu of termination." Tilley said some agencies may read that in a way that tells them not to report officers who may need to be reviewed by the subcommittee.

"What [the legislative rule] is trying to stop is an agency from saying, 'Well, instead of me firing this guy, I'll put them before the subcommittee and let them decide,'" Tilley said.

The subcommittee needs a way to track officers who have been terminated or disciplined, and to make that information available to other agencies who might hire the officer, he said.

"If you do a background check and confirm someone was employed from this date to this date, the reason they left quite often might not be known by the hiring agency," Tilley said.

Another officer recently decertified by the committee was Robert Alkire II, who was hired last year as a police officer in Ronceverte in Greenbrier County, shortly after he resigned from his job as a Pocahontas County sheriff's deputy.

On Nov. 30, 2008, Alkire got into an argument with his girlfriend, Jennifer Miller, at her Marlinton home, a prosecutor said at the time. The argument continued into the street, where Alkire fired his weapon, the prosecutor said.

As a part of a plea deal in that case, Alkire agreed he would not be a police officer in Pocahontas County for one year. He was hired in Ronceverte shortly afterward.

Ronceverte Police Chief Michael L. Smith said Alkire was hired because he was the only certified officer to apply to the department. The chief said hiring Alkire rather than any of the other candidates saved the city about $3,500.

"I know what he was originally charged with, but he only pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. That doesn't eliminate him from being hired," Smith said at the time.

As a result of his decertification, Alkire no longer works as a Ronceverte officer.

Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com">gha...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Almost as many former officers have lost their ability to be police in West Virginia so far in 2010 as in the previous four and a half years total, according to state figures.

The agency that certifies and decertifies officers in West Virginia - the Law Enforcement Training Subcommittee of the Governor's Committee on Crime, Delinquency and Corrections - has decertified five police officers since the beginning of the year.

Seven of the state's nearly 3,500 police officers were decertified by the committee from July 2005 to the end of 2009.

Several of the officers were decertified this year because prosecutors have started requiring officers who face criminal charges to give up their badge as part of plea agreements, said West Virginia State Police Sgt. Curtis Tilley, chairman of the certification committee and assistant director of training at the State Police training academy.

"I'm not sure [prosecutors] were seeking that as part of a plea in the past," Tilley said. "There's not a process for someone to surrender their badge in West Virginia.... When it's part of a plea it requires a simple action by the committee."

Tilley said at least two of the five officers decertified since the beginning of the year were the result of plea agreements.

One, former Dunbar police sergeant Raymond O. "Dale" Conley, pleaded guilty to a civil rights violation in December for abusing his position as a police officer and coercing a woman into having sex with him.

Conley, 40, repeatedly used thinly veiled suggestions to tell women that they had the option of getting out of trouble for sexual favors.

Conley was also sentenced to a year in prison, the maximum possible sentence.

In general, the subcommittee only considers decertifying officers who have been convicted of a jailable offense, Tilley said.

However, the committee is looking at the case of Moorefield police officer Galen Reel, who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a woman, then said that plea was a lie and was acquitted in court.

If an officer has been convicted of a crime, there's no guarantee that the certification committee will be notified.

A state legislative rule tells police chiefs and sheriffs that they "shall not seek decertification prior to or in lieu of termination." Tilley said some agencies may read that in a way that tells them not to report officers who may need to be reviewed by the subcommittee.

"What [the legislative rule] is trying to stop is an agency from saying, 'Well, instead of me firing this guy, I'll put them before the subcommittee and let them decide,'" Tilley said.

The subcommittee needs a way to track officers who have been terminated or disciplined, and to make that information available to other agencies who might hire the officer, he said.

"If you do a background check and confirm someone was employed from this date to this date, the reason they left quite often might not be known by the hiring agency," Tilley said.

Another officer recently decertified by the committee was Robert Alkire II, who was hired last year as a police officer in Ronceverte in Greenbrier County, shortly after he resigned from his job as a Pocahontas County sheriff's deputy.

On Nov. 30, 2008, Alkire got into an argument with his girlfriend, Jennifer Miller, at her Marlinton home, a prosecutor said at the time. The argument continued into the street, where Alkire fired his weapon, the prosecutor said.

As a part of a plea deal in that case, Alkire agreed he would not be a police officer in Pocahontas County for one year. He was hired in Ronceverte shortly afterward.

Ronceverte Police Chief Michael L. Smith said Alkire was hired because he was the only certified officer to apply to the department. The chief said hiring Alkire rather than any of the other candidates saved the city about $3,500.

"I know what he was originally charged with, but he only pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. That doesn't eliminate him from being hired," Smith said at the time.

As a result of his decertification, Alkire no longer works as a Ronceverte officer.

Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com">gha...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163.