Tampa's police chief resigns after flashing badge during golf cart stop

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Yeah

Link to tweet

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tampas-police-chief-resigns-flashing-badge-golf-cart-stop-rcna60105?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

The police chief of Tampa, Florida who flashed her badge to get out of a stop for traveling in a golf cart without a license plate has resigned, according to a statement published on Monday.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor requested former police chief Mary O’Connor's resignation after an investigation into the Nov. 12 incident in Oldsmar, northwest of Tampa, which was captured on a Pinellas County sheriff’s deputy’s body camera.

O’Connor, who was appointed police chief in February, was a passenger in a golf cart driven by her husband that night, police said in a statement.

The body camera video shows O’Connor ask the deputy whether his body camera is on, and when he responds that it is, she says, “I’m the police chief in Tampa.”

[MagickMuffin]

1. Does the side of the building sign say TRUST

Mary looks as if she knows she is doing something unethical.

[obamanut2012]

2. Truist Bank

[gldstwmn]

6. "Is your camera on?"

Pretty much says it all.

[Wingus Dingus]

3. What an entitled jerk.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

4. What is it, an infraction w/like a $50 or $100 fine?

What an idiot, risking (and ultimately losing) her job over something so trivial.

Then there's how dumb it is to commit such an infraction when you're a police chief somewhere. Get a damn license plate, how hard is that?

I almost gotta wonder if they (in particular the hubby) weren't loaded at the time and trying to get out of something that might've turned into something serious, legally.

[brush]

5. There's an unwritten understanding among some LEOs...

its considered a professional courtesy to excuse minor infractions like tickets etc...or even more serious ones. IMO that's why she flashed the badge and said she was a chief. Apparently the officer who stopped her and her husband didn't go along or maybe, inexplicably, wasn't clued in to the custom.

[gratuitous]

7. I've had law enforcement friends

Some of them are of the "not today" school, who will pull out their badge to get out of all kinds of infractions, some quite serious. I've known others who figure they earned that traffic citation, take the ticket, and make as small a fuss as possible. Hoping against hope that the station house doesn't hear about it. Still others I've heard about hand over their ID with their badge kind of sticking out of the wallet and seeing if it carries any weight. Some of them get "Well, just watch it," while others get "As a cop, you should know better."

[brush]

8. Exactly. When I lived in NY my next door neighbor and sometimes...

golfing buddy was a NY State Trooper. We set out one morning to go to a golf outing in the Poconos and were leaving late to meet our Tee time so he stepped on it when we got across the GW bridge and into Jersey. We were flying and a Jersey trooper got on our tail and put the light on us to pull over.

We were in left lane and my friend pulled over aggressively to the left shoulder, demonstrating impressive driving skill while he was at it. I'm sure it was for the Jersey trooper's benefit.

And that's exactly what it was. He showed his badge, saying he was "on the job" and they exchanged pleasantries for a couple minutes. We got a gentle warning that we might run into other troopers, and we were on our way.

Professional courtesy.

[onethatcares]

9. if she would have

shut her mouth and not flashed that badge she (they) would have probably gotten a warning from the deputy but she had to brag. Let the cop do his thing and he would have asked to see her i.d. during the write up.

Now she's out of a nice paying gig.