Indiana law enforcement officials are planning to revoke Timothy Barber’s police certification after a Washington Post investigation showed how the former South Bend officer used his job to sexually abuse a teen and target other girls and young women. Under state law, the South Bend Police Department was required to report Barber’s 2022 felony convictions for child seduction and official misconduct to the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, but failed to do so. The state’s law enforcement training board, which can act on its own after learning of cases like Barber’s, voted to move forward with the decertification process Monday, less than a week after the Post’s investigation was published, the Post reports. The Indiana Law Enforcement Academy will notify Barber that he has a right to a hearing or can voluntarily relinquish his certification.
South Bend officials did not fire Barber after he was found guilty, as the police department had promised on Facebook when Barber was arrested. Instead, Barber said he received a call from the city telling him to resign or he’d have to go through an internal affairs investigation. Barber submitted a resignation letter in September 2022, days after he was sentenced to probation rather than prison by a judge, who told him, “I’m giving you a break.” Barber’s victim, whom the Post is identifying by her middle name, Anne, said she is disappointed by South Bend officials after learning that they never sought Barber’s decertification. There is nothing in the statute that penalizes police departments, such as South Bend, for failing to inform the state about Barber’s felony convictions. Brian Grisham of the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training said the success of decertification systems depends heavily on self-reporting from law enforcement agencies.
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