Posted on 11/10/2003 10:35:44 AM PST by El Laton Caliente
AUSTIN -- Five police officers were supposed to be protecting a Central Texas power plant against possible terrorism, but they went fishing instead. The officers, including a lieutenant and a sergeant, were suspended last month for fishing at the Decker Creek Power Plant at Lake Walter E. Long while on duty, according to disciplinary memos obtained by the Austin American-Statesman in today's online edition. A second sergeant was suspended for not reporting the others. According to the reports obtained Wednesday, the officers were spotted in uniform at least once cleaning the fish they had just caught. The fishing had reportedly continued for a year without action. "Quite frankly, we are very disappointed," Assistant Police Chief Rick Coy told the newspaper. "We believe our job is to protect the community, and that's what we expect our officers to do." Most of the officers were assigned to the plant as part of the department's Homeland Defense Unit. Police suspended five of the officers from one to 30 days for violating civil service commission rules. The sixth officer also was disciplined, but a memo detailing his suspension was not available because he is appealing the case. Internal affairs investigators received a complaint in June that the officers were fishing while they were supposed to be patrolling at the plant, according to the memos. Police cited a number of department violations, including continuing to fish after being ordered to stop and instructing plant security guards to allow fellow officers onto the facility to fish. Lt. Michael Kimbrough, the highest-ranking officer involved, is appealing his punishment. Coy said officers and their supervisors patrolling locations for homeland security will now rotate regularly to prevent similar incidents in the future.
I'm almost thinking of mentioning it to the dudes at our VERY nearby Power Plant.
Ah, the thought of GLOWING FISH makes me hungry!
[Top pic gets Red X right now. Valid URL, so it must be Comcast Server problem right now] ...
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