A Lexington police officer resigned last month after an investigation determined he violated multiple department policies, according to the agency’s Public Integrity Unit.
The investigation began in late January when Lexington Police Department east sector supervisors began developing concerns about the habits of one of its officers, Ronald Sims, according to investigative documents from the PIU. The supervisors noticed a pattern of Sims leaving his sector and going to his home for long periods of time without supervisor permission.
Three sergeants and a lieutenant from the east sector began compiling data and found 19 instances where Sims deactivated his body-worn camera for longer than an hour since August 2023, according to investigative documents. The police department’s Technical Services Unit reviewed Sims’ mobile data computer and found his computer was connected to his home wireless server during two of those instances, indicating he was at his residence.
Sims was interviewed by the PIU about his body-worn camera discrepancies and said, “I believe that I have always kept my BWC in ‘buffering mode’ unless I am in a location when I am not likely to have official contact, and where I have reasonable expectation of privacy,” according to PIU investigative documents. Sims assured that any instance where his camera exited buffering mode was accidental.
The PIU contacted the department’s civilian BWC coordinator and confirmed Sims’ device did not malfunction, investigative documents indicate.
Sims also admitted to stopping by his home outside of his assigned beat for lunch breaks under 30 minutes without permission, according to investigative documents. He also claimed to turn off his BWC during occasional stops to his home to “retrieve food during my shift.”
Sims also took an undue amount of time to respond to calls and finish paperwork, the investigation found.
There was one instance where Sims responded to a non-injury collision and was marked out on the call for more than three hours. PIU investigative documents state his body-worn footage shows him on scene for 17 minutes and GPS data indicates he spent the remainder of that time marked out on the call at his home.
On Aug. 17, it took Sims 67 minutes to respond to a collision on I-75, according to PIU investigative documents.
Sims resigned June 24. The Lexington Police Department declined to comment on the matter.
The last time an officer resigned due to a PIU investigation was in December 2022, when Anthony Delimpo was charged with DUI. He went on to plead guilty a few months prior, according to PIU investigative documents.
Former Lexington detective Ryan Raker, 40, resigned in March one month after pleading guilty of criminal abuse of a child.
