Don't Be Dumb

In this day and age of "accountability," don't be stupid:

• Two former suburban police officers have been charged with misusing their authority to conduct unauthorized Illinois license plate searches, the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office announced Monday.

  According to a news release, a DuPage County grand jury on Sept. 29 returned a 21-count indictment against former Itasca police officer Marisa Ciccola, 30, and a two-count indictment against former West Chicago police officer Gerardo Solis, 39.

  The grand jury alleged 13 counts of official misconduct, a Class 3 felony, and eight counts of computer tampering, a Class B misdemeanor, against Ciccola and one count each of official misconduct and computer tampering against Solis.

Remember that exempt who was stalking some woman, running her plate and phoning her after being told to knock it off? Even a demotion back to lieutenant didn't stop his behavior. Now someone sought and got a twenty-one count indictment (thirteen of those being felonies) against a single former officer.

Even if you can't see it, assume everything is being tracked, observed and recorded - you'll stay out of most trouble that way.