Sheriff vows swift action on misconduct, stresses community confidence

Last week, a deputy in Brooke County was charged with soliciting a minor and traveling to engage in prohibited sexual activity.
Jason McCune is a deputy in Brooke County who is facing charges of soliciting a minor and traveling to engage in prohibited sexual activity. Brooke County Sheriff Richard Beatty spoke with NEWS9 about how his department learned about the matter and acted once they learned of McCune’s actions.
The incident between McCune and the victim occurred in April of this year. McCune, who had been with the department since December 2023, was fired last week by the Brooke County Sheriff’s Department after Beatty said his department was made aware of the situation. The investigation was handled by the West Virginia State Police who arrested McCune last week. He was released on bond.
"It's very important (to act quickly) because we want the public to realize this is a situation that we're just not going to stand by and let happen,” Beatty said. “I want to instill confidence in the community that if we have something like this occur with our deputies in our department we are going to act swiftly and take care of the matter.
"Certainly, in terms of the background, we need to do a better job with the background search.
"In this situation, Deputy McCune was already a certified police officer with the city of Wellsburg. So, we just went ahead and brought him aboard having passed the PT. We thought that it would save the county some cost in terms of sending somebody to the police academy and the training that goes along with it. However, we didn't necessarily dig into a background check. We just assumed information had already been obtained through his previous employer. So, we need to do a better job at that."
Beatty said, like many other departments nationwide, it is facing issues finding qualified candidates to fill open positions. But he wants to assure the community they are working diligently to find the best candidates for those openings.
FULL STORY: wtov9.com/news...
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