Cop who abused involuntary commitment won't be rehired

All those who still claim that the process of having someone involuntarily committed has never been abused in the history of the world can kindly retract their mouths to the unopened position now.

A few years ago, there was a Somerville, Massachusetts, police officer who was also a real estate agent. One day, a woman approached the policeman and asked for help in evicting her former husband from a building she owned, where the man had been squatting in the basement.

The cop immediately resorted to the involuntary commitment tack. He called a local psych ward to try to have the man locked up - even though squatting is no grounds to have someone institutionalized. They may have had grounds to evict him, but not institutionalize him.

Around this time, the officer took an interest in this building and decided he wanted to buy it at a cheap price. And wouldn't ya know it? Turns out the mere presence of the squatter was preventing the sale from taking place.

So what did the officer do? He had the guy committed, of course.

If someone in authority such as a police officer can misuse the involuntary commitment process, who's safe?

The city fired the cop from the force for abusing involuntary commitment in an effort to carry out the real estate deal. He was also fined $10,000 by the State Ethics Commission. Now the firing has been upheld.

I bet the man who got committed can sue the police officer over this. If you got committed to a mental ward just for being an obstacle to a cop's property deal, you'd be livid.

(Source: http://somervillenews.typepad.com/the_somerville_news/2008/05/fired-cop-loses.html)