A Colorado native and former teenage runaway with a criminal history who moved to South Dakota with her children and became a top student in a law enforcement program won’t be allowed to become a police officer in the state.
The state Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Training Commission voted unanimously on Wednesday to deny certification for Samantha Hamm.
Commissioners commended her story of self-improvement after a troubled young adulthood and encouraged her to look for work in the criminal justice system, but said the details of a 2020 marijuana arrest were too concerning to certify her.
Hamm’s case was one of two contested hearings that took place Wednesday at the George S. Mickelson Criminal Justice Center in Pierre. The second involved former Mobridge Police Officer Nick Bratland, a training officer who was fired this year for sending dozens of sexually explicit messages to a female trainee over Instagram.
Bratland told commissioners he’d been struggling with sleep, and that he doesn’t remember much of his conduct as a result. But he also said there was no excuse for his behavior and did not deny the allegations.
The commission voted to revoke Bratland’s certification.
Officer candidate says she was forced to be a prostitute
Hamm was convicted of prostitution in 2010 after an arrest in Aurora, Colorado. It came after an undercover sting operation during which local officers responded to a Craigslist ad and set up a meeting with her in a hotel room.
During the contested hearing on her certification in Pierre, Hamm told commissioners she’d run away from home at 13, and again at 16, “trying to find anyone that loved me,” and fell in with the people who prostituted her.
Hamm said she was “forced to be a prostitute,” and that she was beaten and not allowed to leave.
“It started slow, with these people taking me into their home, feeding me, promises of a good life, nice cars, money, and then it slowly progressed into prostitution,” Hamm said.
Her arrest was a blessing, she said, because it made her a liability and allowed her to get away.
“It opened my eyes to a lot of things,” she said.
She said at the time, when she was 18, she was unaware that her driver’s license had been suspended, which was another of what law enforcement commission staff referred to as “a litany of criminal offenses.”
Hamm apologized for not disclosing the suspension.
You can read the full article at South Dakota Searchlight.