LITTLE ROCK, AR - Continued fallout from the firing of Bobby Petrino. Arkansas State Police is now examining what benefits, if any, troopers have received from working games at the University of Arkansas.
ASP spokesperson Bill Sadler says the agency wants to know if there was any violation of its ethics policy which states employees should not accept gifts or preferential treatment that could influence or appear to influence their job functions.
"Prior to Coach Petrino's crash and the attention that it brought it had not even been on our radar," Sadler says. "Nobody had asked that question."
The Arkansas State Police Commission held its first meeting Thursday since the Petrino accident and investigation. While not on the agenda, commission chairman Steve Smith did say a further look is a good idea.
"I think it's important to be as transparent as possible with the public," Smith told FOX16 News.
At issue, what gratuities or gifts were given to state troopers for working on game days.
"We have tried to be responsive to these questions as they have arisen," Sadler says. "We need to know the answers. It's a chance to do some cleanup. If there has been some impropriety, we want to know about it now."
Sadler says ASP will take the information they receive from troopers and the University of Arkansas and hand it over to the Arkansas Ethics Commission and the Department of Finance and Administration for further guidance.
