Oct 29, 2023 08:00:00

Video of police officer playing 'Pokémon GO' ignoring robbery incident released

We want police officers who protect public order in the city to always maintain a resolute attitude, but there should be no problem if they are allowed to take a breather once in a while. It seems that a Los Angeles police officer took a break too much, and was playing the smartphone game ``

Pokemon GO '' while ignoring the robbery incident. Until now, this episode has only been told in writing, but a video has recently been released for the first time.

[email protected] - NextRequest - Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software
https://lacity.nextrequest.com/documents/25390774

LAPD releases video of officers who ignored robbery to play Pokémon - Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-10-07/lapd-releases-video-of-officers-who-ignored-robbery-to-play-pokemon-go

On April 15, 2017, a robbery occurred at a shopping mall in the Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles. It was a busy day for all police officers on duty, and the Los Angeles Police Department reportedly requested assistance from officers on patrol.

When the request for support was received, Officers Luis Lozano and Eric Mitchell were parked less than 200 yards (about 180 meters) from the scene. However, the two were so absorbed in 'Pokémon GO' that they ignored the request for support.

In fact, at this time, the dash cam installed in the police car was activated and clearly filmed the two of them. The recording included the voices of the two talking about the game for over 20 minutes, and also recorded the moment when Officer Lozano said, ``I don't want to help.''

Video shows Los Angeles police officers ignore call, play Pokémon GO instead - YouTube


When the two were later criticized for not accepting the request, they reportedly replied, ``I didn't notice the radio because I was interacting with local residents in a park where loud music was playing.'' The lie will be exposed.

The two men argued that ``examining the recordings of private conversations is a violation of police department rules'' and that ``they were treated inappropriately during the interrogation.'' However, in 2018, the disciplinary committee unanimously ruled that the two men I have decided to dismiss him.