The fact that San Luis Obispo police officers McDow and Limon continue to be on paid administrative leave, after pleading guilty to accusations they brought illegal substances into the U.S. is nothing short of outrageous (“SLO cops plead guilty, remain on paid leave,” May 6). In fact, outrageous is not a word strong enough. Anyone else under those circumstances would have been immediately thrown in jail. What kind of message does this sentencing send? Become a cop, and you can get away with anything? How can the SLO PD justify keeping them on staff? They made a plea agreement, pleaded guilty, and received a non-sentence: unsupervised probation. What a joke!
Shame, shame on the San Luis police department! The city is struggling financially and yet is still paying these criminals. And that is just what they are—criminals. The department claims this is a personnel matter. Baloney (not the word I want to use): This is a criminal matter.
This article appears in May 13-20, 2010.