Lexington police officer caught taping internal review with investigators resigns
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- Officer Jacob Sharp resigned Jan. 31 after two formal complaints were filed in 2025.
- Complaint says Sharp said he refused an on‑duty sergeant’s order while off duty.
- PIU video showed Sharp appearing to start a recording; termination was recommended.
A Lexington police officer resigned in January rather than face possible termination for disobeying orders and taping an interview with police investigators, according to police disciplinary records.
Officer Jacob Sharp resigned Jan. 31 after two formal complaints were filed against him in 2025, records show.
In one incident, Sharp was working off duty but in uniform and using his patrol car, which is allowed under department rules, according to a complaint filed on Nov. 3.
Sharp was near Mill and Short streets when an on-duty police sergeant asked Sharp if he would help her clear a parking lot after a large crowd gathered. Sharp declined to do so, according to the formal complaint.
“The supervisor then asked if he was refusing to exit his vehicle as ordered, to which he responded he was,” according to the Nov. 3 complaint.
He later told Public Integrity Unit that he checked with the parking attendant, who off-duty officers were working with, on whether the attendant wanted the parking lot cleared.
“He advised the crowd then began standing in the parking lot and he did not see any issues with this and the parking attendant had not told him to remove them,” according to a summary of Sharp’s conversation with PIU investigators. “He advised Sgt. Thomas did approach him while he was working in an off-duty capacity in the parking lot at Short and Mill after this crowd had formed. “
Sharp also said when Thomas told him to get out of his car, he thought she was joking or making conversation and he did not see it as a direct order. Sharp also told investigators he was confused about his off-duty role and when he should follow orders or requests of on-duty officers.
Sharp, who could not be reached for comment, has been with the department since December 2021.
But during a Nov. 4 interview with PIU investigators, Sharp was also caught by those investigators trying to record the interview, according to a Nov. 11 formal complaint.
“During this meeting, it was observed that Officer Sharp had positioned his phone in his shirt to be facing outward and appeared to be recording the conference,” the Nov. 11 complaint said. “When questioned, he pulled his phone out where it was confirmed the video was actively recording. Officer Sharp denied taping purposefully and did not know how the recording could have started, he offered to erase the footage, which he did when asked to do so.”
PIU investigators then examined video footage from around the door of the office where the interview took place. Investigators said that footage showed Sharp “manipulating his phone in a manner that appears to show him starting the video on his camera and then placing it into his pocket. His actions appear to indicate it was a purposeful act of starting a recording, not an accident, and his response when questioned about it earlier was not truthful,” according to the formal complaint.
On Jan. 20, an internal disciplinary review board, consisting of police, police union officials and two citizens, recommended a three month suspension and a one-year suspension from off-duty assignments for October formal complaint. It appears the board recommended termination for the November complaint.
