I know these officers & they are good men, husbands & fathers who take thier jobs very seriously. I feel that this is all something that has gone way too far, especially since the vendor had no license, what kind of person do you take the word of a criminal or long standing police officers with perfect records!!!

Officers, like any other public servant have to remember to put themselves into “the other person’s shoes”. How would they have felt if they were the vendor that had merchandise taken and was intimidated and frightend off from earning a living? No matter what position you are in and how long, you cannot become so comfortable that you begin to think you are above everyone else.

This is a case of a vendor selling illegal merchandise that got into a verbal disagreement with some off duty officers. The officers identified themselves as police officers and the vendor panicked and left the scene, abandoning a sleeve of hats. The officers attempted to return the hats and but the vendor would not return for fear of being arrested for his illegal activity.
The large group of people decided, probably unwisely, to distribute the hats instead of leaving them where they were abandoned. When the vendor told his boss that he would be losing some money on his illegal merchandise, the boss decided to get the Detroit Police involved. By this time the officers were already in the concert and things snowballed from there.
These officers have gotten exemplary reviews for their entire career. One has a deep pride in his job with the city of Wayne since his father was killed in the line of duty serving the city. He was on the SWAT team and taught new recruits at the academy. You cannot find another officer that has his outstanding record.
Now the chief of police has decided to ruin the career and the future of these officers over the word of a criminal simply because he is afraid of the publicity that this has brought on his department. This is a travesty and I hope these officers get back to the thankless job of defending the city of Wayne instead of defending themselves over such a trivial matter.
There are cops in the city of Detroit working for the mayor that have more than one misdemenor and god only knows how many have stolen from suspects, lied, and tampered with evidence on t hat corrupt force. Yet they still have jobs because the city looks the other way. Now we have suburban police officers with spotless records getting fired over a misunderstanding or, at worst, a bad judgment call with an illegal vendor in Detroit. Where is the justification? Look closely and you will see that there are hundreds of police officers still employed with drunken driving offenses, larceny, spousal abuse, and a myriad of other misdemeanors.
I hope these officers return to duty after arbitration and, if not, sue the city for wrongful dismissal.

Wayne cops are well known in metro-Detroit as cowboys. This just proves that.

Innocent until proven guilty!!!

I have been following this story from the beginning. It is a shame what has happened to these officers. Only one side of the story is being told. I find it hard to believe that something as trivial as “Cowboy hats” that were being sold illegally can cause two good officers to loose their jobs. I find it hard to believe that these officers would take 21 hats just for the fun of it, and that the vendor is telling the truth and is innocent in all of this. It is a shame that Chief Williams doesn’t support his officers as much as he worries about the reputation of Wayne or the Wayne police department. The only reputations that were tarnished here were those of the Officers involved and their families devastated. It seems like as soon as the media got a hold of this “Williams” was going to make a statement. Do these officers deserve to loose their jobs over this? We are talking about 2 men that have put their lives at risk everyday they went to work, never have been reprimanded, and have moved up in rank do to there performance as officers, and we are going to take the word of a vendor with no license or permit to sell. Instead of Chief Williams supporting his officers he crucified them, no judge or jury, just his own personal investigation. In more than one article “Williams” stated “What I did had nothing to do with the criminal investigation. It was totally separate,” Williams said. “Everything I’ve done is based on my own internal investigation.”

Was it stated that this vendor was selling merchandise illegally, that he was irritating and relentlessly pestering this group of people to purchase these hats, that these officers tried to make the vendor come back and get the hats that were purposely left behind. No! But we will take the word of someone with no credibility. I think the misconduct wasn’t what took place at the concert; it’s what took place in the department.
People say that police should set a higher stander, well so should Drs, Lawyers and Teachers I guarantee none of them would loose there job over this.

One question to start with – WHY would these police officers who were attending a concert while off-duty, approach a vendor, who is not in their jurisdiction, and ask if he had a vendor’s license?

Why is it that people decide what has happen before it has a chance to go through a court system. It seems to me that since these men are police officers, they are presumed guilty until proven innocent. I would rather see it taken through the proper channels (court) and allow the evidence speak for itself. I find it difficult to see the reaction of the police chief to fire these men when it was never sent to a court to prove they commited a crime. Now that it is a public trial I can see it will be difficult for these men to get a fair and understanding due process.
Do police officers get held to a higher standard…yes….should they….yes… but also understand that these men and women are human and poor judgement can happen. Lets not sacrafice two officers with outstanding performance/ track record.

What a shame that these officers are being crucified by their department. We have all been at some event and were harrassed by vendors or street people (usually one in the same). How many time have we said were are the cops to run these folks off? The officers are no different than the rest of us, only a little bolder and did run him off. They did the other concert goer’s a favor.
The administration of the Wanye Police Department should be ashamed of themselves for jumping to conclusions even before the investigation was complete. These officers were fired before being charged. Cheif Williams speaks as if these officers were his friends, he didn’t even give them the benefit of doubt that is afforded to a common street thug.
In my opinion the chief allowed this to esculate and get out of hand. These 2 fine officers should not pay for his mistakes with their carers.
What must the morale for the rest of the department be like? I am ashamed for them and don’t have to “Proudly Wear Their Shield”.

Chris D and others – the other 4 officers who were involved and received a suspension due to their level of involvement, were the ones who gave the Chief the facts; not an “illegal street vendor”. Give the Chief some credit. He didn’t arrive at his decision lightly.

Unless you tell me the Chief was there too, it seems that he did the right thing. Yes it was a “poor decision” but by the officers, not the department. If they didn’t do anything, this would not be an issue. Lets not forget, the prosecutor felt there was enough evidence to charge them with a crime. I’ve heard of blind loyalty, but those who think these officers were fired and charged with a crime, with nothing to base it on are foolish.

They knew what they were doing was wrong.
They just figured they would get away with it because they were cops.
Police officers who break the law should be fired period.
They are supposed to be setting the example and should be held to a higher standard if they choose to wear the badge.
This should serve as an example to the other Wayne Police Officers.

Lets bring everybody up to date on this subject. One of the Officers in this incident wasn’t even charged with a crime, but he still lost his job. Does that make any sense?

From what I’ve heard the vendor and his boss gave different stories and didn’t even show up for interviews.

So why did these Officers lose thier jobs, Because people THINK they broke the law.