BPD chief Brendan Heffner understands many people are not happy about the punishment police Sgt. Ed Shumaker received. (Adam Studzinski/WJBC)
By Adam Studzinski
BLOOMINGTON – Many, including Mayor Tari Renner, are not happy with the punishment received by Bloomington police Sgt. Ed Shumaker after he said a stabbing victim "bleeds to death."
Police Chief Brendan Heffner understands this, but told WJBC's Susan Saunders "discipline is a corrective action" and that's something the public should keep in mind.
"You're trying to stop an action from occurring again," said Heffner. "I want to be the first to say, those comments were unacceptable whether they were recorded or not. I have went to our shifts and passed that along to the officers."
Heffner explained when punishing an employee there are certain criteria which must be considered.
"Such as past patterns of this type of behavior; there was none. There has not been any since," he said.
The incident occurred before Heffner took over as chief. He would not say whether he would have issued the same punishment.
"I don't want to get into that because I respect that," said Heffner. "What people have to understand is we found it. We could have just got rid of the video. Car videos, they only last for so long and then they roll over."
Heffner added one action does not define who a person is and "we all have said some things we would probably like to get back."
Listen to Heffner's interview with Susan Saunders by clicking HERE for the WJBC podcast.
Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].
