Every single candidate who sat for Mount Vernon Fire Department's June promotional exam for lieutenant and captain has been disqualified, after officials flagged allegations that test takers used electronic reading devices and cellphones during the exam. The city's next shot at promoting officers to those ranks won't come until 2027.
The disqualifications stem from a security investigation into the June exam, according to firehouse.com, which reported that all candidates were disqualified over allegations they used electronic reading devices and cellphones. Investigators also believe candidates obtained a copy of an exam booklet from another community, according to the same report. The City of Mount Vernon Municipal Services Commission investigated the exam's security and ultimately revoked the eligibility list for promotion, per a letter obtained by News 12 Hudson Valley.
Officials have not said how many people sat for the exam or what consequences, if any, candidates involved in the alleged breach might face. The number of test takers remains unclear, per News 12's reporting, and the station noted it was still waiting to hear back from the city for comment. A city spokesman referred all questions to the firefighters' union, according to the same report.
Promotions Pushed Back to 2027
With the entire eligibility list thrown out, Mount Vernon's promotional process for lieutenant and captain has been postponed until 2027, the firehouse.com report states. That means firefighters hoping to move up the ranks will have to wait for a new round of testing rather than any retest of the compromised June exam.
Mount Vernon's own administrative guide states that promotions to the ranks of sergeant, lieutenant and captain are to be made by competitive examination, according to a City of Mount Vernon procedure document. New York Civil Service Law also addresses the subject directly, with a section the New York State Senate identifies simply as covering promotion examinations.
How Other Departments Have Handled Exam Cheating
Mount Vernon is far from the first fire department to confront allegations of rigged promotional testing. In Hialeah, Florida, a personnel board unanimously ordered three candidates who passed a disputed fire promotion exam to retake its oral portion in 2025, according to the Miami Herald. That case involved six total candidates, three of whom passed and three of whom failed, and an internal investigation found that one candidate who failed had forwarded a previous year's oral exam to a candidate who later scored perfectly on it, the newspaper reported.
In Hialeah, the personnel board was described as the only body authorized to certify or discard a promotion list, and those who failed were not permitted a second attempt. A more extreme response played out in Garland, Texas, where the city filed a $1 million lawsuit against an assistant chief and a captain over alleged cheating that involved smartphones and Bluetooth devices, according to Fire Law Blog. That suit sought to recover compensation the officers allegedly received through the scheme, block their retirement benefits and secure punitive damages.
Cheating scandals tied to fire promotional exams are not new, either. Back in 1986, New York City investigated allegations that a fire lieutenant exam taken by more than 4,300 firefighters would have to be thrown out entirely because of cheating, according to a report from The New York Times at the time.
For now, Mount Vernon firefighters who had hoped for a promotion this year are left waiting for the city's next move. No official determination of wrongdoing by any individual candidate has been disclosed, and what, if anything, happens to those involved in the alleged security breach remains an open question.
