Many (hell most) have seen this picture. When I first saw this shot I thought this was a sexual assault and this guy had really been dumb. I later found out this was consensual sex between the trooper and this woman.
Hey pal, was that worth nationwide humiliation and loss of the badge?
A good look at what can bite you in the ass by thinking with something other than your brain
Be Careful Out There; A moment of career stupidity can transform you from a law enforcement officer into a laughing stock.
by David Griffith
...Then there's another type of painful story, the type that I call "Cops Behaving Badly." These stories range from cops committing crimes to cops doing things that just don't look good, things that damage and diminish all law enforcement officers in the eyes of the public they serve. I hate these stories. I hate them almost as much as the ones where cops are killed. And lately there's been way too much of both.
Many police trainers have written numerous articles in this magazine and for PoliceMag.com about the physical dangers of complacency. Officers on the job for a few years or more tend to forget basic precautions and adopt faulty but expedient tactics and techniques. Such complacency results in more than a few police funerals.
I think complacency is also the reason why so many veteran cops tend to get in serious trouble. You let down your guard and you end up doing things you would have never dreamed of doing as a rookie, things that are extremely damaging to your career and your livelihood. You let down your guard against anger, so you cross the line in handling a suspect. You let down your guard against greed, so you falsify overtime or do something even worse. Or you let down your guard against lust and you end up on the Internet caught in flagrante delicto with a young woman on the hood of a car.
That's not a good place to be. If you don't believe me ask Officer Bert Lopez, formerly of the New Mexico State Police.
Officer Lopez was videotaped having sex with a young woman somewhere on the outskirts of Santa Fe. It was a remote area, out in the desert, and he probably thought it was safe. But a surveillance camera from a nearby ranch caught him and the young lady in living color, and he was in uniform...
...Officer Lopez has been fired by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety...
...Now it's not my intent here to heap dirt on the still warm corpse of former officer Lopez' career. It's to offer up this incident as a cautionary tale of what can happen when you act before you think. There are so many ways Officer Lopez, who was two years ago Officer of the Year in his division, could have prevented this. He could have taken his paramour to a private place. He could have indulged his lust later when he was out of uniform. He could have been smart.
Instead former Officer Lopez did the most head-slapping stupid thing he could have done. He had sex in uniform in public. And he got caught. Note: You are always on camera. Memorize that statement. It may save your career.
Excellent point that makes me recall a great quote from a Captain I knew. He held up his cell phone and said "What is this? It's a camera that you can make phone calls with."
Some of you may remember the roll call scene from the great '80s TV series "Hill Street Blues." On that show Sgt. Phil Esterhaus would send his cops out on the street with the thoughtful admonition, "Let's be careful out there."
Esterhaus' advice applies to both your physical safety and professional safety. You have to take care to protect your career. Otherwise, a moment of stupidity could cost you everything you've worked so hard to achieve. And that's no way to make the headlines.
I've been a Field Training for years and one day one I take them to a Starbucks for a get to meet you meeting, to among other things set the tone for our time together. One thing I do bring up is like any other bureaucracy, our agency can forgive much except for problems with two (highly related) areas: Money and Sex. The personnel files is filled with the records of former cops who let temptation for money or getting laid get the better part of them. And no piece of ass is worth your badge.
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