You can imagine the New Mexico police chief was shocked when a security video of the officer and the woman surfaced. The irony here is that the officer, known only as ‘Lopez’, was recently given the title of 2009’s police officer of the year. He was also awarded a ‘challenge’ coin for going over and above the call of duty. That’s what she said.

The photos were from a motion triggered security camera, outside a county owned ranch. Unfortunately someone forwarded the photos on to the Sante Fe Sheriff, Robert Garcia, who identified the officer.

After an investigation, detectives claimed he didn’t commit a crime, as he did not exchange anything related to his position for the sex, but he was still dismissed with only three weeks paid leave.

It seems it’s more about the embarrassment brought to the department.

“It is an embarrassing situation for the department, but we have to remember the rights of the employee afford him due process we must follow so we won’t be commenting further,” said spokesman Sgt. Tim Johnson.

[Source: CBS]