Stockton Police Chief allegedly used Diploma Mill


Blair Urling Accused of Using Diploma Mill Photo Courtesy of  Recordnet.com






This has been a weird week here in Spokane WA where I live. Our Mayor, David Condon, who is doing a great job in his first couple hundred of days in office has had a few setbacks recently in his search for a new Police Chief. 

Last week the search team narrowed down their search to four candidates and it is now down to three because Blair Urling,  the former Police Chief of  Stockton California,  submitted a resume that stated he graduated from La Salle University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Administration of Justice in 1997 and a Master of Science in Law Enforcement Management in 2002. His resume states that he graduated Summa cum Laude.

Unfortunately for Urling, the "real" La Salle University (the Catholic University in Philadelphia) doesn't offer those degrees and diploma mill experts believe it's a fake and could have been purchased for as little as a two thousand dollars for both a bachelors and advanced degree.

In 1996 the FBI raided the fake LaSalle University and found 3 faculty members for the 15,000 students that were, uh, earning a degree. 


The Tmes-Picayune in New Orleans reported that Thomas James Kirk, who ran the LaSalle diploma mill, received about $36 million from churning out fake degrees. Prosecutors convicted Kirk of 18 federal crimes, including mail fraud and tax violations.

The funny thing is Urling probably had no idea that in Spokane we had fired a bunch of police officers for using phony degrees to advance their career. Fortunately for the citizens of any city in which he applies in the future he is going to have a tough time finding a job as a Police Chief because this lie will be easily found with a simple Google search.

Stockton, which many argue is the armpit of California, has recently filed for bankruptcy and in need of money.  Do you think that they should sue him for some of his back pay? Do you think that civil or even criminal charges should be brought against him or do you think that the broke city of Stockton should just let bygones be bygones? I am really curious to hear what you think.

You can read more posts at Barry Seward.

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