City Officials Critical After Dispatchers’ Bar Visit

City officials in Lakeland (Fla.) are disappointed that no dispatchers were disciplined for off-duty behavior that included crude messages written on a mirror during a retirement event at a local bar. The city’s police department is already under investigation by the state attorney’s office for allegations of on-duty sex over the past seven years between civilian and sworn employees. Some of the sex was consensual, the state report found, but other incidents may have involved force or coercion. In the latest scandal, several dispatchers posted photos on their Facebook pages taken during a retirement event for a dispatcher. The photos show messages written on mirrors behind a bar where the event took place, presumably written by Lakeland dispatchers. One message said, “911 dispatchers sleep w/anyone we want & get what we want from all of them all night long.” Another said, “911 dispatchers make cops *****. Right Candice?” The messages were part of a tip jar contest—whoever put money in the tip jar to reach a certain dollar amount could then write a message on the mirror. Comm center manager Bill LaPere said the department’s regulations didn’t cover off-duty, anonymous behavior. Therefore, no discipline was possible. However, city commissioners criticized the dispatchers’ conduct, and said in the wake of the sex scandal, some discipline should have been handed out. View the photos of the messages and read more here.