Nomination For A Hero Badge

It is said that police officers have the ability to screw up a box of rocks with a rubber mallet. Cops acting like cops don’t really present new challenges. No matter how they screw up, somebody else did it before them. The only variable is how the administration responds to the incident.

Four NYPD officers had their weapons taken away and they were put on restricted duty. It seems police girlfriend caught her sergeant boyfriend bumping uglies with an officer under his supervision. That officer was married to another NYPD officer. The administrator who was tasked with sorting this brouhaha out put all the involved officers on the “rubber gun squad”.

https://nypost.com/2019/01/07/4-cops-in-love-rectangle-stripped-of-guns-so-they-wouldnt-kill-each-other/

The whole mess came to the attention of the administration when photos of the sergeant and second girlfriend were posted on a NYPD affiliated website. It appears that somebody in authority panicked and over reacted.

So, who screwed up? The NYPD Patrol Guide (Policy manual) does not prohibit extramarital sex. Aside from student teacher (police academy) relationships, consensual sex between supervisor and subordinate is not prohibited. The affair between sergeant and subordinate was over and had been for several months. Sounds like a mutual itch that needed scratching, rather than an affair.

Once the complaint was routed to the proper investigating authority, all the officers were returned to duty, with their guns. Taking the guns away from the involved officers had nothing to do with restraining homicidal impulses. The person who authorized the action attempted to avoid any responsibility for the consequences of the officer’s actions.

It back fired. What should have been handled quietly has been blown up into a titillating news story. Oh well, the offending administrator’s next assignment will prove challenging. Not everybody is cut out to handle point security on Staten Island where the garbage scows dock.

Oh, for the good old days. Cops were more pragmatic about getting laid, on the job. As one NYPD Deputy Chief was reputed to say, “What other job can you wake up in the morning, sober, broke and horny and by the end of the tour (shift) take care of all three?”