There are some stories that are just too weird to ignore. It appears that a Louisville Metro Police officer was fired last month, after he allegedly was caught looking at porn on his police car computer. Looking at dirty pictures-at least, while on duty-is frowned upon by LMPD's rigid standards of conduct. We know it gets lonely on late watch out in the 2nd Division; but cops are expected to keep their minds from wandering into areas unrelated to law enforcement.
But wait. There's more. The officer involved, Chris Dison, was also accused by Police Chief Robert White of having emailed nude photos of himself (Dison, not White) out into the World Wide Web from the computer in his police car. Chief White sent officer Dison a termination letter on September 29, indicating that an internal police investigation had found that Dison had and viewed photos of nude and partially nude women (sometimes engaged in sexual acts) on several occasions. The letter further suggested that the officer had, on a least three occasions, transmitted photos of himself in his police uniform along with pictures of himself nude or partially nude.
In fairness to officer Dison, he has filed an appeal of his firing with the Police Merit Board, and we should all give him the benefit of the doubt while we wait to see if they can pin anything on him. Whether or not it will stand up in court, remains to be seen.
But evidently this isn't the first time Dison got into trouble for posting lewd photos while in his police uniform (or not, as the case may be). Back in March of 2007, he was charged with using the screen name "LMPDCop" to post photos of naked men and women on an adult personals website, also from his police car computer. According to a 2007 disciplinary letter, he was given a 19-day suspension, and warned not to do it again.
Dison was employed with LMPD for seven years, and was awarded a medal of valor during this year's police awards banquet in March. Most probably for actions unrelated to posting nude photos on the internet.