State police say they are investigating whether some municipal officers cheated on a routine recertification exam administered in late February.

Maj. John Gallaher, who heads the state Municipal Police Officers' Educational and Training Commission, said he could not estimate when the investigation might conclude, or provide any details. "The investigation has to run its course," he said.

Police sources said that at least a dozen officers, mainly in Delaware County, received letters advising them of the probe. The officers' chiefs also were notified.

The allegations surfaced after two officers received an e-mail with answers to a recertification test that was scheduled to be given at Delaware County Community College's Malin Road campus in Broomall, sources said. Disturbed by the dishonesty, the officers alerted their chief. He then contacted higher authorities, who initiated the probe, sources said.

Any officers found cheating likely would lose their certification - and then their jobs, since they could no longer perform police duties such as making arrests and carrying a gun, sources said. One officer whose computer was checked has been fired already, sources said.

Police sources suggested that such a punishment would be deserved because cheating on a test - especially one that is relatively easy to pass - displays a serious lack of judgment and ethics.

"We have received cooperation from a number of very professional officers and chiefs who recognize the importance of integrity issues to police officers," Gallaher said.

He explained that the state's 23,000 municipal police officers are required to undergo 12 hours of training at designated centers every year and renew their certification every two years.

Gallaher described the tests on the training as "straightforward," providing a tool to ensure that "the instructional objectives were grasped." The commission's Web site describes the 2009 topics: legal update, police stress awareness, crisis and emergency management, and off-duty decision making.

Officers who do not pass get a second test. And if they do not pass that one?

"The worst thing that would happen is that you'd have to take the course again," Gallaher said, an outcome that, he added, occurs "not very often."

Contact staff writer Kathleen Brady Shea at 610-696-3815 or kbrady@phillynews.com.