SUMMERDALE, Ala, — Summerdale Police Chief Frank E. “Eddie” Ingram will head to the state capital later this month in conjuction with an investigation by the Alabama Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission.

“It’s an administrative investigation that’s being conducted to check and see if I inentionally entered information incorrectly into the APOSTC stystem,” Ingram said in a telephone interview.

That investigation, the chief explained, centers around the first few weeks after Ingram took over the Summerdale position last June, during which time he was getting acclimated with the state commission’s system.

“There were things I put in two or three times or accidentally deleted,” Ingram said.

The investigation focuses on whether Ingram intentionally entered misinformation into the state commission’s computer system, particulary two incidents.

“He was entering reserve officers into the system,” Summerdale Mayor David Wilson said in a phone interview.

According to both Wilson and Ingram, the chief erred when attempting to re-enter those same officers as volunteers, with the result entries listing them as town employees.

The other issue is whether Ingram did not follow proper procedure when re-qualifying for firearm certification. Ingram said that while he and his fellow officers were under-going the certification, he asked one of them to sign a form, witnessing that he had followed the process.

According to the APOSTC website, the commission is tapped by the state to certify training and to regulate Alabama peace officers.

“I didn’t know anything of the rules of APOSTC,” Ingram said, “and I was trying to get the records here in Summerdale sorted.”

The police chief added that because he was unfamiliar with the computer system, he continuously called the commission for help.

“It got to where I called so much that I’d start a call with, ‘I’m sorry for bothering you again,” Ingram said.

He added that he asked APOSTC to audit the Summerdale Police Department’s records.

“I don’t think an audit had been done in about 10 years,” Ingram said.

An audit was conducted in April, resulting in the investigation. Although Ingram said the investigation, which culminates in a June 27 hearing in Montgomery, is an administrative investigation, findings against him could be serious.

“He could be exended, revoked or exonerated,” Wilson said.

Ingram, who has been a law-enforcement officer for 32 years and is certified in Alabama, Florida and Georgia, said he has never encountered such an investigation.

“It really shocked me,” he said. “I haven’t hired an attorney because I haven’t done anything wrong.”

When asked about the investigation, APOSTC spokesman Greg Hardy said he couldn’t comment “because it’s an ongoing investigation.”

However, Wilson said he and the Summerdale Town Council “agreed to stand behind the chief.”

That decision followed a special called meeting of the council earlier this week to discuss the issue.

“We’re hoping for the very best,” Wilson said.