RICHMOND, Ind. – An Indiana police chief says his department launched an internal investigation after photos turned up on social media showing two officers sleeping in their car at a local cemetery.
The incident came to the attention of the Richmond Police Department after someone posted photos of the officers on Facebook Saturday morning with the caption, “Check out what we found this morning.”
The photos showed two people asleep in the front seats of a marked Richmond police cruiser. The post indicated that the photos were taken at St. Andrews Cemetery on Liberty Avenue in Richmond.
Police Chief Jim Branum said the department would launch an internal investigation into the matter, According to the Palladium-Item,
“Obviously, it’s not OK,” Branum told the Palladium-Item. “It’s certainly something that’s not encouraged. We’re aware of it and we’re going to launch an internal investigation and in all likelihood, there’ll be some discipline.”
The post has been shared more than 4,300 times as of Sunday afternoon and has garnered a number of comments about the situation.
The comments ranged from support of the officers to criticism of them. Several people also left comments critical of the person who posted the images.
The poster said in the comments that the car had been running for at least three hours.
The chief said the department has a policy mandating that officers shouldn’t sleep on the job.
“I think it’s common sense; I wouldn’t want to call for police action and have an officer sleeping somewhere,” Branum told the newspaper. “