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Police Officers Fired for Ignoring Crime in Progress

Recent court documents unveiled disciplinary actions against two LAPD officers, actions which resulted in their firing. Former LAPD officers Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell were supposed to be responding to a call about a robbery in progress. But according to recordings obtained from their squad car and body cameras, they waited 20 minutes before they responded to the call.

What occupied their attention during that 20 minute span? The popular augmented reality game Pokemon Go. The officers spent approximately 20 minutes chasing virtual creatures on their mobile devices. “A Snorlax … just popped up on 46th and Leimert,” one of them was recorded as saying.

After the firing, the officers protested the decision on the basis of their contention that recording their conversations was an invasion of their privacy. However, the city’s board of rights upheld the firing in their decision, affirming its necessity. In its filing, the city responded: “Playing Pokémon Go showed complete disregard for the community, wasted resources, violated public trust and was unprofessional and embarrassing to the Department.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

As the people of God, we are called upon to give our full attention to serving. If we're unwilling to sacrifice our immediate desires for the sake of others, we can't in good conscience call ourselves disciples of Jesus.

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