VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University’s police chief resigned Oct. 9 following investigations into complaints that he was caught drinking on the job, faked documents to maintain the department’s certification and violated his oath of office, according to documents released by the university.

Chief Alan Rowe had been on administrative leave during the university’s investigation.

Chief Bryant Leverett will continue in his role as interim director of public safety following Rowe’s resignation, the university said in a statement.

Investigations into Rowe’s conduct in office began in April following a complaint about his role in an incident at a VSU football game in fall 2023, an investigative findings report provided by the university showed.

The complaint claimed Rowe, attending the game in his official capacity and driving a state-owned police car, drank alcohol at an alumni tailgate event before the game and later used the police car to escort the football team.

After the game, he reported his police cruiser as missing, believing it had been stolen, the report shows. The car was later found, and the chief admitted consuming alcohol in the presence of another officer whose body camera was recording the incident, the university said.

“The complaint indicated that the officer reported the smell of alcohol on the Chief but was ordered to leave the scene and not discuss the incident,” the report said.

Additional allegations were made that bodycam footage of the incident was deleted, violating state law. An audit by technicians found no evidence bodycam evidence had been manually deleted, the university said.

“This incident has brought to light reports of a toxic work environment, including verbal abuse, discrimination, and high staff turnover within the department,” the university’s investigation report said.

VSU brought in an outside investigator to review the situation, and also assigned a second investigator from within university police to handle additional allegations, the report said.

VSU’s report said the following allegations were sustained:

— Falsifying documents to retain state certification.

— Falsifying evidence relating to misuse of the Georgia Crime Information Center, a statewide computerized crime information service, by a member of VSU PD.

— Failure to accurately report GCIC violations.

— Violation of oath by public officer.

— False statements and writings in which Rowe is said to have added his name to two training rosters with the knowledge he did not attend those training classes.

— Violation of University System of Georgia ethics, core values and conduct policies.

— Violation of VSU Police Department Manual policy regarding consumption of alcohol while on duty.

In rebuttals, Rowe denied drinking on duty, said problems with state certification papers were simple errors and not attempts at deception, and denied falsifying any GCIC information.