WILKES-BARRE – A city spokesman told Newswatch 16 that Wilkes-Barre’s police chief has started an internal, personnel investigation into photos that surfaced of a woman posing with a city officer and next to a police cruiser.
Spokesman Drew McGlaughlin said no one is sure when or where a photo of a woman on a cruiser’s hood was taken, but said a photos of a woman holding an officer’s badge and posing next to a cruiser were taken in Wilkes-Barre, but are likely more than a year old.
Officials said the officer was likely off-duty, moonlighting through the departments special detail program outside of a bar on Public Square.
McGlaughlin said the program is run through the officer’s union, officers are selected through seniority to patrol businesses at night.
The program dictates that through arrangements approved by the police chief, the businesses pay the officers directly and the officer later pays the department a portion of their earnings to cover insurance and use of a marked cruiser when moonlighting.
McGlaughlin said the special detail program allows additional police presence downtown without costing taxpayers, and that the department is handling the investigation as an internal, personnel matter.