Best cops ever?

Avatar Roku

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Jul 9, 2008
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I just read an article on Yahoo that made my day.
With guns drawn and flashlights cutting through darkened rooms, Polk County undercover drug investigators stormed the home of convicted drug dealer Michael Difalco near Lakeland in March.

As investigators searched the home for drugs, some drug task force members found other ways to occupy their time. Within 20 minutes of entering Difalco's house, some of the investigators found a Wii video bowling game and began bowling frame after frame.

While some detectives hauled out evidence such as flat screen televisions and shotguns, others threw strikes, gutter balls and worked on picking up spares.

A Polk County sheriff's detective cataloging evidence repeatedly put down her work and picked up a Wii remote to bowl. When she hit two strikes in a row, she raised her arms above her head, jumping and kicking.

While a female detective lifted a nearby couch looking for evidence, another sheriff's detective focused on pin action.

But detectives with the Polk County Sheriff's Office, the Auburndale, Lakeland and Winter Haven police departments did not know that a wireless security camera connected to a computer inside Difalco's home was recording their activity.

The recording obtained by News Channel 8 showed several members of the county's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) task force entering the house shortly after 8 a.m. According to the search warrant, their mission was to search for drugs, stolen property and the fruits of any illegal drug activity.

Now there are questions on how the impromptu bowling tournament might affect the case against Difalco.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd denies it will have any effect.

"That absolutely is not true; that doesn't invalidate the search at all," Judd said. "Now the defendant would like for it to invalidate the search, but unfortunately for him, it won't."

Judd, who watched the video during an interview last week, called the situation an embarrassment.

"I'm not pleased that they played that Wii bowling game," Judd said. The sheriff's office oversees the drug task force. Judd said he initiated an internal administrative investigation of the incident.

"That is not appropriate conduct at a search warrant," he said. "But I am less pleased with the supervision that didn't walk in and say, turn that off. That's what supervision should have done."

Task force members played the video game at various times during the day, for a total of a little over an hour of playing time. The competition proved to be quite competitive at times. A task force supervisor from the Lakeland Police Department, gun at his side, pumped his fist after picking up a strike on the first ball he threw. The video showed he continued bowling frame after frame, competing with another undercover detective.

"Obviously, this is not the kind of behavior we condone," Lakeland Police Chief Roger Boatner said. "There was a lot of down time, but that does not excuse the fact that we should act as the consummate professionals."

"Certainly this was a case of bad judgment," Auburndale Police Chief Nolan McLeod said. "We will handle it appropriately."
Source. [http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/sep/21/undercover-drug-investigators-embarrass-polk-sheri/]

The title was meant to be ironic, by the way. I personally find this a disgusting breach in professionalism. What do you think?
 

fix-the-spade

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Feb 25, 2008
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http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/94902-Police-Play-Wii-Bowling-During-Drug-Raid

You were Ninja'd by the staff.
 

wolfy098

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May 1, 2009
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fix-the-spade said:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/94902-Police-Play-Wii-Bowling-During-Drug-Raid

You were Ninja'd by the staff.
Yes but they didn't write that mass of text
 

fix-the-spade

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Feb 25, 2008
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wolfy098 said:
Yes but they didn't write that mass of text
True but irrelevant, they still beat him to the punch and put the article out first. That wall of text is from the exact same page they give as a source the News Article too.
 

Avatar Roku

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Jul 9, 2008
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fix-the-spade said:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/94902-Police-Play-Wii-Bowling-During-Drug-Raid

You were Ninja'd by the staff.
Oh sunovabitch...

Oh well.
 

wolfy098

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May 1, 2009
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fix-the-spade said:
wolfy098 said:
Yes but they didn't write that mass of text
True but irrelevant, they still beat him to the punch and put the article out first. That wall of text is from the exact same page they give as a source the News Article too.
Awwwwww do you have to contradict me at every turn... 'sniffles'