The press jumped on it because it is most assuredly sensational. But I don’t think that the 9th Circuit was suggesting life-style policing. Perhaps its wishful thinking – but the message seemed consistent and relevant to what a police officer does as an avocation. There are numerous cases of Police officers and Firefighters (also working part-time as erotic dancers both male and female) that have received similar decisions upholding the Police and Fire Departments dismissals. I am not familiar with any cases involving folks that practice ‘swinging’ even though some identities have been breached from Internet posting.

PS: Hello Patty – shirt is collared though. I will though update with an ascot soon

Does this decision actually mean that some day in the near future I will be able to walk past a bar and NOT see the local sergeant stumbling out?

On another note, isn’t right that we require our civil servants to adhere to a certain level of conduct? Aren’t teachers as well respected as police officers in the community?

p.s. Welcome back, Binx – after you ’101′. Sporting no collar and no ascot, I see.

2. “The Ninth Circuit opinion seems to be an invitation for departments to police the lifestyles of their officers. While it is certainly true that the Dible’s were very public in their activities, Ronald was only photographed once and did not tie his private activities to his public duties.”

No doubt there is much to consider, theoretically, with regards to free speech, however, the premise of your statement in number one presumes ‘life-style’ and had this actually been about ‘life-style’ choices, I don’t believe the Court would have ruled in the same manner. This was about a business. One can easily conflate the two issues, but it is my opinion that the decision may have been largely influenced in the fact that the Dible engaged in an avocation that may in fact, according to some of the testimony and reports, not only affected his ability to perform his duties, but also had unfortunate effects with regards to his fellow officers, including a female officer enduring taunts of Porn Whore at Police activity scenes.

In Hoboken, New Jersey, a number of years ago, there was a case of a police Lt. John Aiello.

http://www.edmecka.com/articles/591/1/Former-transsexual-cop-opens-up/Page1.html

He announced that when he returned from leave it would be as a woman. There were no precedents and there was no lengthy legal entanglement. This was purely about life-style choices and the final result was … John Aiello returned to work as Janet Aiello. Human resources noted the changes – special arrangements were made for the restroom .. and the City of Hoboken quietly and discretely handled the situation with Aiello and shut-out the wolverine Tabloids. Hoboken is one square mile of City and they managed to work this out for one of their own. Had he had a Website or was writing a book, a business of any sort, connected with his life-style choice, I cannot imagine it would have unfolded the same way.

There were choices here – for all parties. The Police Department might have overreacted and forced a particular path because of their proximal morality, but the Dible also made a choice to turn his life-style into a business that could be construed as a direct conflict with the laws he was tasked to perform, or the safety of officers tasked to perform it with him.

It is though, fascinating to watch our society mature, notwithstanding the unfortunate effects it had on the Dibles’ life.

Too right.

I’m shocked! Shocked that there is gambling going on in here!

It doesn’t appear that Mr. and Ms. Dible broke any city, state, county or federal laws. Nor have I read anything about his having signed a work contract that contained a “moral turpitude” clause.

One wonders which city official was roaming those areas of the Net to find the Dible’s website in the first place and how many times and by how many Chandler officials it was viewed to be absolutely certain it sufficiently offended them to warrant the firing.