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Steve Corbett
Sunday, January 30, 2000 Page: 3A
Don’t accuse police Chief Robert Lehman Jr. of napping on duty.
“I was resting in the picture,” he said last week.
But, if Plymouth Township’s top cop could live that fateful day over
again, he admits he never would have drifted off while a mechanic worked on
his squad car.
“I just turned my head and closed my eyes,” Lehman said. “For four or
five minutes, I would say.”
Considering that the Kennedy assassination took less time than that, Lehman
clearly needs a refresher course in consciousness.
Granted, the snapshot isn’t as titillating as the Zapruder film, but it’s
plainly right on target.
Crack members of law enforcement never “coop,” as the expression among
cops goes, even for five minutes.
Anything might happen.
In the freeze frame, Lehman’s head is tilted back almost far enough to kiss
his credibility goodbye. The chief’s mouth is open wide enough to see the
enamel on his molars.
A good cat burglar could have stolen his tonsils during this catnap.
Minus a brain scan, no one knows the degree of doze the chief experienced.
But there’s no doubt that Lehman got caught with his eyelids down.
The chief said the garage guys were goofing on him at the time, and he was
trying to ignore their digs when he turned away.
“People make fun of me all the time.”
No wonder.
Wakefulness must remain a non-negotiable job requirement for any police
chief bold enough to ride around in a black and white with “To Serve And
Protect” painted on the side.
Lehman admits the picture, taken about 3 1/2 years ago, is embarrassing.
“I didn’t know the guy took it.”
Only after repairs were complete did the mechanic tell the chief he
photographed him.
“It was like `ha ha, big deal,’ ” Lehman said. “I didn’t get mad or
anything.”
A week later, the candid cameraman showed Lehman the developed 35 mm film.
“He got me at a moment when I was resting,” Lehman said. “It wasn’t
nothing lengthy.”
The car in which the chief was resting was the only police car in service
in the township, Lehman said.
Yet, instead of walking a beat, listening to the police scanner or reading
a police science textbook, Lehman nodded off.
Over the years, as copies of the picture circulated throughout the area,
other cops got quite a chuckle out of Lehman’s graphic goofiness.
“It’s a well-known joke, I swear to God,” Lehman said.
But the chief isn’t laughing now that members of a group called “Concerned
Citizens of Plymouth Township” are passing around his picture.
Lehman doubts that truly concerned citizens are spearheading the campaign
to humiliate him.
“I’m 99 percent sure I know who’s behind it,” he said. “A former cop who
didn’t get hired here.”
The 30-year-old Hazleton native who has worked as a police officer since he
was 18 still believes he does a good job.
“I’m innovative,” he said.
There’s nothing new about cops sleeping on the job.
Nor is painting “To Serve And Protect” on the side of a squad car.
A new slogan for the township, however, would indeed be innovative.
“Snooze, you lose” says it all.
Call Corbett at 829-7215 or e-mail stevec@leader.net