Three police officers disciplined for Lexie Glover case

The Prince William County Police Department has disciplined three police officers for not following policy during the Lexie Glover case.

The department has completed an internal investigation about its handling of the girl’s case and is making several changes because of it, police department officials announced Monday.

“Part of our responsibility is to safeguard children from harm, and it is deeply disturbing to me that we failed to do so in Lexie Glover’s case,” Chief Charlie T. Deane said in a statement.

He added that “there are some things we could have, and should have, done differently within prior investigations with [Glover’s] family.”

Monday, Alfreedia Gregg-Glover pleaded guilty to killing 13-year-old Alexis, as well as to abusing her and filing a false police report.

During the plea hearing, police listed more than a dozen incidents of abuse of Lexie Glover that were reported to the police and the Department of Social Services since 2004.

A police department report released Monday lists the problems encountered in Lexie’s case and changes that can be made to fix them.

One problem was that Gregg-Glover “intentionally mischaracterized” Lexie, the police department report states.

Gregg-Glover led the police department, the Department of Social Services and various healthcare professionals to believe that Lexie was “severely mentally and physically challenged” and that she was lying about the abuse, the report states.

Another problem arose from the poor communication between the police department and the Department of Social Services.

The internal investigation revealed that there needs to be a better and more consistent way for police officers and social workers to share information about a case.

A third problem the report identified is that police officers and detectives who investigated Lexie’s case used inconsistent techniques.

The police department’s report recommends improvements in training, communication between investigating officers, police department policy and communication between the police department and other agencies, including the department of social services.

Among the changes that will be made are changes to the police department’s policy regarding child abuse and neglect complaints.

The revised policy will require detectives or school resource officers to follow up and investigate every report of child abuse and neglect.

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.