Ten Philadelphia police recruits resigned last week after they tried to cheat on an open-book exam, a department spokesman said Monday.

In early June, one member of a platoon of recruits obtained answers to an exam and distributed them to nine others in the class, the spokesman said. Another recruit who witnessed this reported it to his superiors.

An internal investigation was launched and before it concluded, the 10 recruits resigned. The test was one of many administered during the training period at the Police Academy in Northeast Philadelphia.

The 10 recruits were part of a class scheduled to graduate in September.

Had they not resigned, they would have been rejected, according to the department spokesman.

The resignations come as the Philadelphia Police Department is investigating racist and offensive Facebook posts some of its officers allegedly made.

A total of 82 Philadelphia cops were placed on administrative duty this month as internal affairs determined whether any of their posted content violated the department's social media policy, which states, in part, employees “are prohibited from using ethnic slurs, profanity, personal insults; material that is harassing, defamatory, fraudulent, or discriminatory.”