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| © Johan Nilsson / Reuters |
A Swedish police officer refused to
follow a superior’s instructions to detain a suspected smuggler with an
hour-and-a-half left till the end of his shift, because he didn’t want to work
extra hours.
RT
report continues:
Disciplinary
probe was launched into the case of a Swedish traffic police officer, who
failed to arrest a suspect with 300 liters of smuggled alcohol in his car near
the southern Swedish city of Ljungby in January last year.
After
fining a truck driver for transporting a too-heavy cargo, a Swedish officer in
question and his colleague found out that the load appeared to be 300 liters of
smuggled wine. Upon discovery they got in touch with a superior officer at the
nearby station, who instructed them to confiscate the cargo and detain the
driver for further interrogation.
However,
it happened to be Friday and the officers were apparently not in the mood for
hard work.
"It's
Friday afternoon and we're finishing our shift in an hour-and-a-half and have
not intended to work late," he reportedly told the senior officer.
The
preliminary investigation over the charges of professional misconduct was
dropped, as a disciplinary board concluded that the officer perceived the
command as a directive and not as an order. Nevertheless it issued a reprimand
to the officer pointing out that non-compliance with the code of conduct could
wreak Swedish judicial system.
"Failure
to implement such a decision ultimately risks undermining the rules applicable
to the judicial system," said the committee in its decision, as cited by
the Kvällsposten.
In addition to that, the
committee imposed a 25-percent salary reduction fine for the period of five
days on the officer.
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