UNITED KINGDOM—Oh, mother of Mary, not another one, and not during the Easter holiday, of all the times of the year to have yet another porn-related controversy involving a trusted and effective member of the legal or law enforcement establishment! Oh, and not another police officer! Well, at least it wasn't a politician again, or a member of the clergy, or a judge!
Bad enough that the now former chief inspector, Mark Brew, was "in charge of more than 100 officers on Merseyside's Matrix anti-gun unit, before he was dismissed last week for gross misconduct," reports the Mail Online.
"A disciplinary hearing also heard how married Brew left a junior officer in charge of a conference he was running while he sneaked off for a lunchtime sex session with a married lover," the article continued. "He was also accused of making a junior cop drive 200 miles to pick him up from a conference in London and drive him home to Liverpool."
Oh, this is a bad boy, all right, but considering the serious police work he was involved in, was sacking him over sex really the right move when all is said and done?
Before his dismissal, Brew was a key figure on the Matrix anti-gun and gang offensive—put into place by current Metropolitan Police Bernard Hogan-Howe," the Mail reported. "The Matrix command is credited with solving the murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones in 2007 and dramatically reducing gun and gang crime on Merseyside."
Brew has owned up to some of the accusations, such as using his police-issue iPhone and Blackberry to trawl the net for pornography and to send and receive text messages with two women, thought to be colleagues on the force. But he denied accusations of a lunchtime tryst, despite a confession from the woman."
The article says his bosses are most concerned about the unauthorized use of the junior cop to drive him. That's probably because gas is so bloody expensive in the U.K.
So, let's see: Reducing gun and gang crime (thus solving murders or preventing them), or losing an effective commander because he watched porn, took an unauthorized drive (or two) and may have had an affair (or two).
Hmmmm .... tough call.
