Maybe Arizona policewoman Diana Lopez thought she’d found love at the office when she entered into a relationship with a lower-ranking police officer. She apparently trusted the guy enough to send him explicit videos and a naughty photo in which she posed in her police uniform. Unfortunately for her, the jerk decided this was too good not to share.
According to a departmental probe made public this week, Lopez’s boyfriend shared the video and photos with 13 other officers in the Tucson Police Department over the course of several months. He forwarded “sex videos” to other officers, and showed one of them directly to a sergeant. Classy guy!
Guess who’s in trouble now? Not the boyfriend, apparently, whose name hasn’t even been made public. Instead, it’s Lopez. She’s been demoted to the rank of sergeant, and police documents say she violated department regulations, a code of ethics, and professional standards.
“Lopez used extremely poor judgment in sending these images undermining her credibility as a commander. Her actions have negatively affected not only her reputation, but the reputation and mission of the Tucson Police Department,” the assistant chief wrote in the report.
Lopez did indeed use poor judgment. But she’s not the only one here! Very few of her actions took place on company property or company time, and none of them seem to have posed any kind of public risk. All the embarrassment and harm to morale came from the fact that the entire department saw the materials, which was her boyfriend’s fault.
As Lopez’s lawyer puts it, ”The case raises constitutional issues when there is a lawful off-duty behavior, and a wrongdoer violates your trust and privacy rights without your permission or consent by making it public.”
The investigation is ongoing, but Lopez’s so-far-unnamed boyfriend — hopefully now an ex — has apparently received no punishment at all. What gives, Tucson PD?
