I’m pretty sure Money Magazine didn’t name Newton one of the best places to live in U.S. because our police have a great sense of humor. Nonetheless five of our city’s, um, finest have been disciplined for egging the home of a Newton police sergeant as a “prank.”
Here’s the Globe story and the TAB story.
I can’t believe grown men did this. . . . .
If I did this AND my employer found out . . . (in the private sector), I could probably be fired!
What were they thinking?
Don’t forget the Gawker story!
http://gawker.com/5973091/teens-caught-egging-suburban-home-turn-out-to-be-off+duty-officers
This is now on the national radar. Thanks Newton cops!
…and the Associated Press story
Add to the mix a page one story in the Globe today (complete with the photo of a broken egg)
Included is this quote from acting chief Mintz:
Sounds like the justification for Chief Cummings boorish behavior towards the woman inside headquarters all over again.
And what about the intoxicated officer who was found roaming “a darkened street” in need of a ride home? Does abandoning a fellow officer fall into the category of a joke too?
This might be the funniest thing I’ve heard all week.
Eggcellent!
If teens had done this, and caught, would they have been handled this way?
These are cops acting like kids: even worse than if kids were doing this.
An embarrassment to Newton, and not to be treated as lightly as seemingly is the case. Our police are role models: is this what we want our citizens to be patterned after?
What Dan Fahey said.
Much adieu about nothing.
I disagree Kim. Google “Newton police egg” and you’ll see this story got play from coast to coast.
This is embarrassing to our city and to the police men and women who did not engage in this. Not releasing the names of those involved casts a shadow over every officer, which is hardly fair to them either. It’s lovely that they sent a fruit basked to to the sargent involved but what about their colleagues?
I agree with Kim. I would have been upset if they were doing something to harass
a citizen who let’s say was publicly critical of the Police Force, but this was obviously a kind of joke (however crude) involving peers. It”s embarrassing, but I don’t think it should blemish their records or their chance for promotion. I think the Newton Police are held in high enough regard here, that this one incident won’t diminish their status, at all.
I was a naval officer back in the 60’s and we regularly pulled pranks on our seniors, some far worse than this. And in terms of national media, this will never match the nationwide visibility over the 200 million dollar spent on Newton North
Greg,
I understand with people’s outrage but I still don’t agree. Though I am not a police officer I know that it is a brotherhood…a team. These are not politicians. They aren’t elected officials. I believe they are very much like a sports team or a military unit. They are brothers in arms. They are regular guys who play pranks on each other and deal with any consequences internally. They didn’t commit a crime against the public. They were fooling around within their company. If the ‘victim’ in this case came out strong against the act I would be likely to admonish their behavior. He didn’t.
No one was put in danger. Just boys being boys. No one was calling in sick so their buddy could get 2x pay to replace him. No one got hurt. It’s embarrassing they got caught but these are not bad guys based on this incident.
I can’t dismiss drunk hooligans egging a house in the wee hours of the morning as “boys will be boys”. Especially police officers, who as role models need to be held to a higher standard of conduct. It’s irresponsible of them, and disrespectful to what it means to be an officer. I realize it was off-duty, but it’s not ok to be officers on-duty and behave like a group of thugs off-duty.
Getting Framingham police out there to arrest these jerks cost taxpayer money and I also would point out that it is a safety hazard, in that the responding officers were not available in case a serious incident would’ve happened at the same time.
In the end it’s all about the hypocrisy. This stinks like the Sheila Burgess case, the Mass. Highway Safety Director who had racked up something like 34 traffic violations.
Looking around the Internets, it looks like egging a house (vandalism) is a gross misdemeanor. Usually that’s punishable by up to a $5,000 fine and up to 1 year in jail. To paraphrase one online site: “You may believe that your act of vandalism was a harmless prank, but law enforcement agencies and the prosecution will work their hardest to have you prosecuted at the full extent of the law.”
Unless your day job happens to be police officer. Then you’re off scot-free from the criminal charges.
dulles,
I am not a cop but I’m sure the police in Framingham were okay with this incident. They are brothers. They handled it ‘internally.’ I’m quite sure they didn’t feel put out at all. The brotherhood of police and fireman is something that should be admired. Public safety was not an issue in this case.
Let them handle this internally. It is is cheaper for everyone.