Cop Resigns, Accused Of Pornographic Pursuits On The Job
Most people know better than to watch pornography in the office. That might be why only 3 percent admit to watching porn videos on their personal mobile devices when at work.
Sometimes, though, someone like former Daytona Beach Police Sgt. Penny Dane goes above and beyond the call of booty. The Florida woman reportedly resigned earlier this month after supervisors allegedly found 274 pornographic pictures, nearly two dozen of which were of herself, on her department-owned desktop and laptop computers. Some of the shameless selfies purportedly showed her in -- at least parts -- of her uniform. And things reportedly didn't stop there, as she's alleged to have used the pictures of herself in an online sex-game site called "Red Light Center," modeled after Amsterdam's infamous red light district.
The problem for Dane wasn't just the porn, but allegedly viewing it while she was supposed to be monitoring other officers. Her answer to investigators? "I don't want to say I didn't have any idea what they were doing because then that would be obviously very wrong. I did pay attention to my radio and listen to what they were doing," Orlando TV station WESH quoted her as saying.
Of course, people can and do get fired for social media posts. Even so, many employees continue to tempt fate, often assuming that there could be no consequences or that a boss would never come across the postings.
Public employees are hardly an exception, with some being fired after making racist and homophobic remarks on Facebook. And teachers reportedly have been dismissed for joking about wishing their students dead or surreptitiously taking and posting sexually suggestive photos of them.
At least one Indonesian politician purportedly left politics after being caught watching pornography on his tablet -- during a session of parliament. Not all public officials necessarily suffer the consequences, though. In 2011, some employees of the Securities and Exchange Commission were said to have come under investigation for watching a massive amount of porn during work time -- on computers and via Internet access paid for by taxpayers -- but without serious consequences.
In Dane's case, she probably should have known better, as she's said to already have been disciplined in 2011 and 2012 for personal use of city computers and suspended in 2012 for tanning on the job. And she was no rookie, with 18 years on the force, according to her LinkedIn profile. On her Facebook page, she also describes herself as a mother of two who likes the TV show "Cougar Town" (a 40-something divorced Florida mother who likes younger men).
There is some strong irony in Dane's downfall. The matter reportedly came to light after Dane accused a supervisor of sexual harassment in May: As part of the investigation, her photos and use of sex websites, some dating to 2009, were found. So, her attempts to remove unwanted attention from her sex life resulted in unwanted attention to her sex life. The supervisor is said to have been cleared.
The story of Penny Dane ... very strange.
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