BIMBO COP OF THE YEAR

If this broad doesn’t get the ‘Dumbest Cop of the Year’ award, I’ll eat my John Deere cap. But after seeing what she’s posted on Facebook, it’s probably more fitting to establish the ‘Kookiest Cop of the Year’ award because she would be a shoo-in for that one.

FACEBOOK POSTS ADD TO DALLAS COP’S TROUBLES
By Tanya Eiserer

The Dallas Morning News
February 19, 2011

DALLAS — A Dallas police officer who is under investigation after getting into a fight with a Plano hospital worker bragged about the incident on her Facebook page.

"I threw my boot at him, Jerry Springer style, and nailed him in the face," Senior Cpl. Cat Lafitte wrote this week, several days after police were called to the hospital Feb. 9. "It broke his glasses and cut his face and bruised it up real good!"

The six-year veteran of the force was placed on administrative leave last week while internal police investigators look into the incident and now decide whether the Facebook postings violate a relatively new department policy on social networking.

The incident did not result in criminal charges because neither Lafitte nor the hospital employee wanted to pursue them.

Lafitte could not be reached for comment after repeated attempts to contact her.

"An initial review of both the off-duty incident that occurred in Plano, as well as the postings on the social networking site, raises serious concern," said Deputy Chief Mike Genovesi, commander of the central patrol division. "Both instances have been referred to internal affairs for a thorough investigation."

Lafitte's troubles with her Facebook postings come on the heels of the department's new policy on social networking sites. The policy notes that "employees will not post items or information that may adversely affect the morale, confidence and public respect of the department."

On her Facebook page, she describes herself as an "Official Bum Roller," a police lingo reference to dealing with homeless people. In another posting, she jokes that her inspection sticker has been expired for nearly a year, but adds, "There's no way I would write that ticket to someone."

The entries are posted with settings set so that anyone with a Facebook account can read them.

Another posting is a picture that shows a small black boy surrounded by police officers. She comments, "Quick … sprinkle some crack on him!" Still another posting shows a picture of a vagrant with the words, "Help the homeless (leave Dallas)."

Lafitte was featured in a September story in The Dallas Morning News about how she was painting a portrait of a police officer with the message, "Dallas Police Department Welcomes You to Deep Ellum" on one of the pillars under the North Central Expressway.

The story described Lafitte as being a graphic novelist, roller derby skater and single mother. Lafitte told The News that she decided to go into police work while working as a nursing assistant at a hospital.

The incident involving Lafitte occurred on the morning of Feb. 9 at Medical Center of Plano. A police supervisor said Lafitte went to the emergency room after hurting her knee.

According to a Plano police report, she told police that she had received a call from a supervisor and that she began to scream and curse. Dallas police supervisors say Lafitte was upset about an impending transfer to an overnight shift at another station because the move was going to create child-care problems for her.

Lafitte told police that a hospital employee came into the room and screamed at her before trying to grab her. She said she acted in self-defense when he tried to put her in a headlock and slammed her to the ground.

The paramedic told police that that he had come into the room to calm Lafitte down and to tell her that security was on the way. He said she grabbed her leather boots and struck him in the face, breaking his glasses. He said he got behind the kicking and screaming Lafitte and "put her on the ground" in an effort to control her, according to the police report.

A friend who was with Lafitte backed up her version of events in a statement to police. But a security guard who entered the room during the struggle said he had to straddle Lafitte as she was still trying to kick the paramedic.

Another patient told police that she heard Lafitte screaming and cursing so loudly that it could be heard down the hall.

Another friend, Jennifer Olson, who has known Lafitte since high school, called her an exemplary police officer with a spotless record.

"I realize she did some venting on her FB page, but everybody does," Olson said. "She loves being a police officer."

In Monday's Facebook postings about the incident, Lafitte writes that "a 300 lb male E.R. orderly tackled me because I was cussing out my Lt. on the phone. … I took his [expletive] to school."

"Pray for my enemies, for they have crossed the wrong little girl," she wrote.

"Look for me in the news!" she added.

In other postings from that day, she wrote that she is done with the Dallas Police Department and that the "first department to me wins."

"I'm at war with the DPD command staff, but so far I'm winning," she wrote.