A Lexington Police officer resigned last month after an investigation found he violated multiple department policies, according to the police integrity unit.
According to PIU investigative documents, the investigation began in late January when a supervisor in the Lexington Police Department’s Eastern District became concerned about the habits of one of his officers, Ronald Sims. The supervisor noticed a pattern of Sims leaving his district and commuting to his home for extended periods of time without the supervisor’s permission.
According to investigative documents, three sergeants and one lieutenant in the Eastern District began collecting data and found 19 instances in which Sims had his body camera disabled for more than an hour since August 2023. The police department’s technical services unit examined Sims’ mobile data computer and found that in two of the cases, the computer was connected to a wireless server at his home, indicating the suspect was at home.
When questioned by the PIU about the body camera discrepancies, Sims said, “I believe I had my body camera in ‘buffering mode’ at all times unless I was in an area where I was unlikely to come into contact with public officials and had a reasonable expectation of privacy,” according to PIU investigative documents. Sims was adamant that any instances when the camera was taken out of buffering mode were accidental.
According to investigative documents, the PIU contacted the police department’s civilian BWC coordinator, who confirmed there was no malfunction with Sims’ device.
Sims also admitted to making unauthorized stops at a home outside his assigned duty zone for up to 30 minutes during his lunch break, according to investigative documents, and claimed he turned off his BWC when he stopped at a home to “pick up food” while on duty.
The investigation found that Sims took unreasonably long times to answer phone calls and complete paperwork.
In one instance, Sims responded to a non-injury crash and was deployed for more than three hours, but according to PIU investigation documents, his body worn video showed him on the scene for 17 minutes, and GPS data showed he was at home the rest of the time.
On Aug. 17, it took Sims 67 minutes to respond to a crash on I-75, according to PIU investigative documents.
Sims resigned from his position on June 24. The Lexington Police Department declined to comment on the case.
The last time a PIU investigation led to an officer’s resignation was when Anthony Delimpo was charged with DUI in December 2022. He had pleaded guilty several months earlier, according to PIU investigation documents.
Former Lexington Detective Ryan Laker, 40, resigned in March, one month after pleading guilty to criminal abuse of a child.