HAMLET, N.C. — Dennis Brown is no longer the police chief in the city of Hamlet, as local leaders tell Channel 9 that internal and external investigations are underway.
While few details have been made available from Hamlet, Channel 9’s Gina Esposito found a large investigative file from the state released two months ago, and Brown is named in part of it.
In 2023, a state Department of Justice commission began investigating a law enforcement training instructor in response to reports that four cadets from Hamlet were suspected of cheating on tests at the Basic Law Enforcement Training program at Robeson Community College. The course is necessary to become a certified officer in the state.
The report says the instructor “discovered four students were regularly receiving either perfect scores or scores in the high 90s. Such high scores were rare in RCC BLET courses. The speed of some test completions by the four students was unprecedented.”
The report says the instructor decided to rework the tests and make all cadets retake it. The scores from the “suspected students dropped dramatically,” according to the report, and “the time it took them to complete the revised test increased significantly.”
In the report, all four cadets said, “they said that they had prepared by studying pre-BLET tests that their superior, Chief Brown of the Hamlet City Police Department, Richmond County, had given them.”
Channel 9 found a social media post from Hamlet police in 2022 mentioning a new BLET program that would be run by Brown. It says recruits would “attend it before attending an actual BLET program in January 2023.”
To be clear, the town of Hamlet has not said whether this report is linked to Brown’s departure. In a statement to Channel 9, the town manager said, “once the investigations are concluded and all facts have been fully reviewed, the city intends to release a formal statement to ensure transparency with our citizens.”
A law firm representing Brown told us, in part, “We anticipate that information will be brought to light soon that will provide the community with a more accurate and thorough understanding.”
We’ve reached out to that state DOJ commission to ask if they’ve conducted any further investigations into Brown. We’re still waiting to hear back.
In the meantime, James Carsto has been appointed as interim chief of police for Hamlet.
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