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Photo via Groveland Police Dept./Facebook

Police chief has to give himself parking ticket thanks to Facebook vigilante

Fair is fair.

 

Jay Hathaway

Internet Culture

Posted on May 13, 2016   Updated on May 26, 2021, 7:01 pm CDT

A Florida police chief was forced to issue himself a parking ticket thanks to a Facebook post that showed his truck blocking a sidewalk. Concerned citizen David Bires took the photos and called the police out for hypocrisy, asking friends to share his outrage. 

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Not one to admit that he’s above the law, Groveland Police Chief Melvin Tennyson decided to eat the $45 fine for his shitty parking. Although there wasn’t exactly an apology, the police department did issue a statement on Facebook, noting that Tennyson pays his fines like everybody else.

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“I cannot… hold anyone accountable until I hold myself accountable,” Tennyson wrote in a letter to the city manager and city council, “and as I have always said it starts at the top.” 

It must be such a comfort to the chief to know the Groveland Police can count on local Facebook users to help them identify parking violators. 

H/T Palm Beach Post

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*First Published: May 13, 2016, 4:20 pm CDT