Brickbat: Fake Stop

Baltimore police officer Dequwan Houchins has been indicted on charges of misconduct and making false entries in public records for allegedly filing fake reports about traffic stops he didn’t actually make. During an undercover investigation, detectives found that when Houchins claimed he was making traffic stops, he was actually just sitting in his car or ordering a smoothie, apparently to avoid being assigned service calls that would require him to respond to people who need police assistance. Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley called Houchins “just a lazy cop who didn’t want to do anything and wanted to collect a paycheck,” saying his behavior was especially troubling because another officer might have needed help while Houchins was avoiding work.