WILKES-BARRE - The chief of police is investigating a group of salacious photos posted online, including one showing a city detective posing outside a downtown bar with a woman poised to lick his badge.
The three black-and-white photos posted on the blog Wake Up Wilkes Barre portray a woman in shorts and high heels lying face-down across the hood of a police car, clutching her buttocks; a woman in shorts and heels bent provocatively over the trunk of a police car as she grabs the antenna; and a woman in a tank top using a finger to lift a uniformed police officer's badge toward her extended tongue.
City spokesman Drew McLaughlin said Tuesday that the first two photos appear to have been taken elsewhere, possibly in Scranton, and that no officers appear to have been present. The third photo, however, depicts a city detective smiling in front of the Hardware Bar - now the Susquehanna Ale House - on South Main Street with a woman's head close against his chest, her tongue perhaps an inch away from his badge.
Wilkes-Barre Police Chief Gerard Dessoye is investigating the circumstances surrounding the photos, Mr. McLaughlin said Tuesday.
"Upon initial review, judging by the type of uniform worn by the officer and the lack of a wireless antenna for the RMS system on the vehicle, we believe it to be at minimum a year old," Mr. McLaughlin said. "Furthermore, the police chief believes there was no criminal misconduct by our officer, but he appears to have violated departmental regulations. Upon determining the full facts of the case, appropriate disciplinary action will be administered by the chief."
Mr. McLaughlin declined to specify what regulations the detective apparently violated, saying it was a personnel matter and that Chief Dessoye was still trying to determine the extent of the detective's participation in staging the photo.
"Active participation in that would, I think, be very concerning to us and that's what we're trying to ascertain," Mr. McLaughlin said. "If there's a quick grab and someone snaps a photo, that's a completely different story than if something was organized or planned."
Contact the writer: jhalpin@citizensvoice.com