Slap on the Wrist for Wii-Playing Cops

The central Florida cops caught indulging in Wii video games while they were supposed to be searching a house for drugs will have to pay a little penance.

Eleven officers, some from the Polk County Sheriff's Office, some from other agencies, will have to undergo retraining for the March incident in which they were caught on a hidden camera playing Wii bowling while executing a search warrant, the Lakeland Ledger reported yesterday.

Sergeants involved will have to take four hours of exercises while detectives will have to complete two hours of retraining.

That time doesn't come close to the nearly nine hours the game-loving cops spent honing their Wii skills. A tape of the incident, originally obtained by the Tampa Tribune, shows the cops celebrating strikes and taunting one another. After one strike, a guy in a bullet proof vest flexes his muscle and another jumps around like he just won the Wii World Championship.

Though no drugs were found by the anti-drug task force, guns, computers and TVs were confiscated in the raid.

"We are learning from our mistakes," sheriff's Chief of Staff Gary Hester told the Ledger. "I'm absolutely convinced these folks will never do that again. I think we handled (the investigation) appropriately."

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