Philly Police Banned from Smoking on the Job October 30, 2001
News Summary
After a newspaper photo showed a Philadelphia police officer smoking on the job, Police Commissioner John F. Timoney issued a department-wide ban on smoking for officers on duty or in uniform, the Associated Press reported Oct. 26.Timoney said police officers smoking while on duty "may be perceived as unprofessional" and is potentially dangerous to both the officer and the public.
In the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper photo, Lt. John J. Thompson, 50, had a cigarette in his mouth as he lifted a man in a wheelchair outside a burning building. Thompson said he was taking a cigarette break when he saw two men struggling to get the man in a wheelchair over a fire hose.
A police spokesman said that officers who violate the smoking ban will receive a written reprimand for the first violation. Additional violations will be treated as "failure to obey orders and conduct unbecoming" an officer.
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