Police rookie fired over bad background check

A rookie police officer in Southwest Division has been fired after it was determined that he was allowed into the Police Academy without a proper background check that would have disqualified him, officials said Wednesday.

The removal came months after a city background investigator resigned amid allegations that he approved the hiring of at least 15 police recruits without conducting required background checks, officials said.

Councilman Dennis Zine said Wednesday that he asked for an investigation into allegations that three other city employees in the back-grounding office had sexually explicit material on their computers.

A source confirmed that the investigation had been completed and that the employees had been disciplined.