Background checks no holdup for police jobs
Staff writer
Amid allegations that he solicited drugs and sexual favors as a sheriff’s deputy in Mineral County, Nevada, in 2021, Peabody officer Eric Watts resigned April 18.
Resignation was not new to him. Peabody was the sixth of seven departments in which he resigned from his post.
Watts’ previous resignations were from Gustine Police Department in 2008, Merced County Sheriff’s Department in 2011, Mineral County Sheriff’s Department in 2021, Walker River Police Department in 2021, and Elk County Sheriff’s Department in 2023.
Despite six resignations and repeated allegations of misconduct, Watts has had no problem being hired again and again, demonstrating problems with recruitment of law enforcement officers at the state and local level.
Anthony Finnell, president of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, said the frequency of Watts’ resignations was concerning.
“There is evidence of complaint or misconduct, even though there might not have been a formal investigation, and [he’s] moving drastically,” Finnell said. “Oftentimes, an officer leaves for more money, better benefits, better working conditions. But when an officer does what this officer seems to be doing, it does raise a lot of red flags.”
In Peabody, Watts propositioned a local woman 12 times in two minutes to show him her breasts, despite the woman declining or changing the subject seven times in that span.
In Gustine, California, a complaint was made to the district attorney alleging that Watts committed child abuse and disobeyed two court orders. The district attorney did not take the matter further, citing a lack of evidence.
Watts’ most severe case of alleged misconduct came in Mineral County, where Watts resigned shortly before an internal report documented texts in which he attempted to pay for sexual favors from a former inmate.
The woman, Jessica Libbee, also claimed Watts tried to buy oxycontin from her.
Another inmate, Frances Sepulveda, testified that Watts sexually harassed her and had sex with another inmate, Amanda White, in the prison kitchen.
Mineral County sheriff Ben Ferguson also alleged Watts attempted to cheat on a certification exam by asking other deputies to take the test for him.
Watts was looking to be fully certified in Nevada after receiving full California certification in 2016.
After resigning from the Mineral County department, Watts joined nearby Walker River before Ferguson pressured him into another resignation.
“Walker River Tribal hired Watts and another subject,” Ferguson said. “It was my belief they are both Brady officers, and I would not allow them to utilize our dispatch.”
Ferguson said Watts filed a complaint with the Nevada Attorney General but that the AG sided with the sheriff.
“They stated I was within my rights to believe both officers were Brady issues and their complaint was closed,” Ferguson said.
“Brady” is a reference to being on a list of officers whose credibility in criminal cases can be questioned because of allegations of misbehavioir.
An open records request was made in order to see the complaint. The Record was told Tuesday that it would take until August to find the documents.
Despite this baggage, Watts was hired in Elk County, Kansas — where he became the subject of an ongoing brutality lawsuit — and then Peabody, where he worked for seven months before the Record reported on the allegations against him.
Watts’ nomadic nature begs a question of who is responsible for ensuring an officer who has committed serious misconduct cannot cover his or her tracks by moving between states.
In Mineral County, Watts was not prosecuted or reported to Nevada Peace Officers Standards and Training commission for his alleged offenses.
Ferguson said there was not enough evidence for his department to seek prosecution. Inmates came forward with testimony only after Watts left the department, he said.
Adam Fortier, who investigated Watts, said he hoped to find video of Watts having sex in the prison kitchen. But by the time he was made aware of the allegations, the prison’s security video had recycled.
The report did uncover text messages in which Watts appeared to solicit sexual favors, but the woman texting with him deleted key messages in-between, Ferguson said.
Mineral County not filing charges meant state POST departments, responsible for flagging officers’ misdemeanors, saw Watts’ record as clean.
“If an agency does not report criminal activity to me, I am not able to bring it to the POST commission for a hearing,” Nevada POST chief Kathy Floyd said.
Even if Watts had been charged, a loophole in the POST system worked in his favor.
Watts could not be decertified and placed on the National Decertification Index because he was not certified in Nevada to begin with.
The index is the primary tool used by POST commissions to track misbehaving cops.
It is unlikely an officer on the index will be hired in other states, though some are more diligent about using the database than others.
Watts was only provisionally certified in Nevada and Kansas. A spokesman for Kansas CPOST said that while a provisionally certified officer might have certification revoked for committing a “training act violation,” such officers are not placed on the index.
California law gives three years without working in the state before certification expires.
Watts last worked there in 2017, meaning his only full law enforcement certification has expired.
But for someone looking to become an officer in Kansas, it doesn’t matter.
“Anyone can get provisional certification based on employment, provided there’s no evidence of a certification revocation,” the spokesman said.
Provisional certification is granted regardless of training level.
“We have lots of people who, once they hit that minimum age requirement of 21, start brand-new law enforcement [careers],” the spokesman said. “Typically, what that would look like is the officer doing some field training, riding along with other officers, doing training in the office.”
But Watts was not doing field training in Peabody or Elk County.
He was a proper police officer in both locations, including a period of two weeks in which he served as Peabody’s only officer.
In Kansas, provisional certification lasts one year, though CPOST can extend the deadline.
If provisional certification expires or is revoked, the officer must wait a year before applying again.
Watts waited a year and two weeks after resigning in Elk County before securing his job in Peabody.
Strangely enough, this is more leeway than a fully trained officer receieves.
If a Kansas officer’s certification is revoked after they go through basic training, they must wait five years before applying again.
Once again, the fact Watts was not fully certified worked to his favor.
CPOST systems for tracking unruly officers are part of the problem, but responsibility also falls on hiring agencies.
“[Watts] is not going to agencies that have a thorough process,” Finnell said. “They would disqualify him.”
Background checks are required under Kansas law. KSA 74-5605 states that all officers must be “of good moral character” and that no officer who has committed “a misdemeanor offense that… reflects on the honesty, trustworthiness, integrity or competence of the applicant” should be hired.
As such, police departments typically review the officer’s employment history, speak with past employers, and determine whether the officer has been the subject of a Brady disclosure, as Watts was in Nevada.
Finnell said small police departments often look for any officer they can, and sometimes do not perform adequate background checks.
“The national dialogue now is that there’s a shortage of qualified individuals interested in law enforcement,” he said. “But a person like this, it appears, is not really qualified.”
Neither Elk County nor Peabody contacted Ferguson before hiring Watts.
Sometimes, a hiring agency might do its best to perform a background check but struggle to receive information from former employers.
Ferguson said this often is the case when his department tries to hire.
“They’re hesitant to share information with you,” he said. “They don’t want to give too much information if it’s a bad cop.”
Despite allegations surrounding Watts, he likely will find work again in a year when he can attain provisional certification.
He could even move out of Kansas and find a new job right away.
Missouri requires one to pass basic training first if one’s previous certification has expired, but Oklahoma is similar to Kansas; if Watts is hired there, he will have a six-month window to work as an officer before he is required to possess basic certification.
The situation highlights a frustrating system not just within Kansas but the United States.
CPOST systems rarely discipline an officer without a criminal charge. Local police departments are reluctant to share information. Others don’t adequate perform background check. And state laws mean a man accused of sexual assault, brutality, and soliciting drugs and sex can continue, again and again, to become a powerful police officer in local communities.
“That dude is not qualified to be a cop anywhere,” Fortier said.
Finnell agreed.
“I know people can change, but these are certain character flaws that, unless there’s some real effort, real desire, and real consequences, it doesn’t sound like this guy’s going to change,” he said. “He just quits and goes somewhere else, which is tragic.”