Pokémon Go : Two Los Angeles police officers were fired for chasing Pokémon instead of fleeing from criminals, court documents said.
The men were parked nearby when a radio station called for police to respond to a shop robbery.
But a review of their camera images in the car revealed that they were playing Pokémon and opted to follow the nearby Snorlax – a rare catch – rather than give a copy of the repository.
The pair denied playing the game but were fired after an investigation.
Visible creatures
Details of the case came to light when recent documents relating to their complaint – dismissed – were discovered by Axios.
After ignoring the replica of the repository, “about the next 20 minutes, filmed [non-smokers] discussing Pokémon as they drove to different locations where visible creatures appeared from their cell phones,” the documents say.
Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell were on the lookout for the robbery of Macy’s doorstep, on April 15, 2017.
Another police officer, Capt Davenport, who also heard the call, saw the store – and another police car parked on a nearby road, court documents show.
The nearby police did not respond to a call, so Capt Davenport did it himself – he saw another police car going down the tunnel from the scene. ‘
The two officers then told a sergeant who was trying to contact them to reassure them that they had not heard the radio.
But camera footage in the car revealed that they had discussed the phone and decided not to answer it.
“Officer Mitchell informed Lozano that ‘Snorlax … has just appeared [in 46] with Leimert’”, the sources said.
The two then went that way to start a 20-minute sports session and conversation.
“The boys will be jealous,” said Officer Mitchell.
Visible creatures ‘
Both officers denied playing while on duty, telling detective Mitchell that he was reading aloud from a group of other players “bragging about their points”.
“Det McClanahan ruled that the applicants were not truthful,” court documents said.
A subsequent board hearing of the misconduct found the two guilty:
failing to answer a robbery call
making misleading statements
failing to answer the radio when contacted
plays Pokémon Go on duty
making false statements under investigation
“The applicants admitted that they had left the area in search of Snorlax but insisted that they did so ‘both’ as part of ‘extra vigilance’ and ‘chasing this mythical creature’,” the court said.
Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online.
Pokémon
Part of the Pokémon franchise, the game is the result of a partnership between Niantic, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company.
It uses mobile devices with GPS to detect, capture, train, and combat real-life creatures, called Pokémon, which appear to be in the player’s real world. The game is free to play; uses a freemium business model integrated with local advertising and supports in-app purchases for additional in-game features.
Pokémon has been released in mixed reviews; Critics have praised the concept but criticized technology issues.
However, it has provoked conflict by contributing to risks and creating social unrest. Various governments have raised concerns about security, and some countries have regulated its use. The game had more than 147 million active users by May 2018, downloading more than a billion worldwide in early 2019, and making more than $ 6 billion by 2020.
Pokémon Collection
Unlike other installments in the series, players in Pokémon Go do not fight wild Pokémon to catch them. During the encounter with wild , the player may throw a Poké Ball by swinging it from the bottom of the screen to the top of Pokémon.
