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A group of SWAT cops were caught playing Wii bowling during a raid on the suspect's TV. The suspect's hidden camera captured everything -- even their victory dances.  (Source: CNET)
Wii turns out to be more addictive than crack, even cops are hooked

Addictions make people do horrible things.  For example, it can make people play video games on the job, despite their better judgment.  That's what happened with one particularly addictive video game system, the Nintendo Wii.  And it wasn't just any average Joe that was playing it -- a group of cops were apparently caught playing the Wii during a drug raid.  As stated, addiction can make people do terrible things.

The seasoned cops busted into the house of Michael Difalco, an alleged drug dealer who was already in custody.  Searching it for drugs, they found a bag that they suspected to contain methamphetamine.  Then they found something much more intriguing and addictive -- the suspect's big screen TV (bought with ill-gotten money in all likelihood) and a Nintendo Wii. 

Succumbing to their addiction, more than one male and female cop began playing rounds of Wii Bowling as they cataloged evidence.  Their romp even featured celebratory posturing on some of their strikes.  And unfortunately it was all caught by the suspect's hidden camera.

The cops may have landed in a bit of trouble for their behavior.  Defense attorney Rick Escobar who revealed the footage says it's proof that the police executed the warrant inappropriately and violated his client's rights.  Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd agrees that the Wii-playing may have been ill-considered, but defends the search, stating, "We executed that search warrant appropriately from a legal sense."

Ironically, the hidden camera was housed in a faux speaker attached to the suspect's computer.  For some reason the police did not decide to seize the computer, despite the fact that it might have contained evidence of wrongdoing.  If they had, they might have prevented the embarrassing footage from leaking.

In the end, though, leak it did and the world gets a glimpse of the effects of Wii addiction on the brain.  The footage also lends hope to those that wish that antics found on shows like Reno 911 would occur in real life.  The trial between the red-fingered cops and the Wii-didn't-do-it drug dealer should be an entertaining one, to say the least.



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that settles it!
By inperfectdarkness on 9/23/2009 9:32:12 PM , Rating: 5
i've never heard of this happening with a ps3 or an xbox 360. i guess we know who won this generation!




Hooray for law enforcement!
By Fernandobeto on 9/24/2009 11:27:04 AM , Rating: 2
You can't blame these guys, at least they weren't DOING the blow. And imagine how much press a story like this gets for Wii, they do all kinds of promotions like this to get an edge on the competition. For example, here's an online promotion for a free Wii courtesy of Nintendo. It's a rather good strategy I think, just make sure to read the instructions.

http://www.gamesncs.com/rd_p?p=192108&t=9528&a=131...




Is this theft?
By CurtOien on 9/27/2009 8:13:37 AM , Rating: 2
They used this without permission and used electricity to do it.

Honest officer, I did not steel the car, I was just using it without permission. Of course I was going to pay for the gas.




cant believe it
By otcclass2008 on 9/23/09, Rating: -1
RE: cant believe it
By Reclaimer77 on 9/23/2009 8:16:17 PM , Rating: 3
Great advertising for Nintendo though !!!


RE: cant believe it
By FITCamaro on 9/24/2009 9:47:20 AM , Rating: 4
New Nintendo Ad:

"The Wii. Just as good as meth."


RE: cant believe it
By AnnihilatorX on 9/24/2009 4:24:15 PM , Rating: 3
No, don't be misled. This IS a staged Nintendo advertisement :P


RE: cant believe it
By nvalhalla on 9/24/2009 8:35:18 AM , Rating: 5
That's not a good analogy. More like during a drug bust a TV was on so they changed it to south park. Or they saw an interesting magazine and flipped through it. It takes a while to collect and catalog everything. The officers had time to kill, saw a Wii no one was using and helped themselves. Was it inappropriate? Yes. Was it a crime? No. Does it invalidate the search or have any effect on the evidence collected? No.


RE: cant believe it
By acase on 9/24/2009 11:36:13 AM , Rating: 5
Also, playing the Wii most likely had nothing to do with "addiction" even though that was referenced about 10 times in this blog. I mean it is alright to try and stretch it so it has some funny connection with drugs I guess, but unless the cops admitted they were not going to come to work unless they could find a wii to play because they had an addiciton, it is a ridiculous thing to assume.

They, like anyone else, just wanted to have a little fun on the job during a long tedious process. I'm sure not addicted to DailyTech, but I am here posting while I am on the clock.


RE: cant believe it
By TheSpaniard on 9/24/09, Rating: 0
RE: cant believe it
By AEvangel on 9/24/2009 3:00:36 PM , Rating: 2
I'm not sure they should lose their jobs, but they should be reprimanded and it should go in their records.

I also think the Captain's excuse was pretty damn lame, "we employ 1800 people and none of them are perfect, they made a mistake is all.". Like how many people you employee has anything to do with doing something wrong?

Also the concept that in the 9 hours that they spent their searching the apartment, and all the time they played he Wii, that no tax money was wasted is complete BS, I mean seriously, they never checked his PC for illegal information of his drug trade??


RE: cant believe it
By kkwst2 on 9/24/2009 3:29:03 PM , Rating: 1
The number of police actually has a lot to do with how they behave. The quality and level of education/training of most local police is pathetic. If we had fewer police that were better trained we would be a lot better off. The Captain could certainly train a much higher quality police force if he only needed to train 500, rather than nearly 2000.

And don't tell me you're safer because you've got 2000 of these bozos running around.


RE: cant believe it
By exploderator on 9/25/2009 9:25:33 AM , Rating: 1
Absolutely. Even if it was 1000, with twice the training, and slightly higher pay. But these are murky waters:

On one hand, most every branch of government that actually does shit is in a constant struggle for its budget, so even that 1800 might be well shy of what they really need, and we can just forget about ever affording enough training.

On another hand, we should be working on the root of these problems. A lot less people would be meth and crack addicts if we had an economy that didn't benefit the decision makers when 10% of us are unemployed, willing to work for way too little pay, just to keep our precious jobs. The resulting poverty is the real root cause of a lot of misery and social chaos, and it seems cheaper going in to try to police the problems instead of heal or prevent them. The long term cost adds up though, in overstretched police systems turned goon squads, and over policed people turned victims of their own system. And for all that, I think history is telling us that policing problems too often fails to fix them.


RE: cant believe it
By therealnickdanger on 9/25/2009 9:43:39 AM , Rating: 4
quote:
The quality and level of education/training of most local police is pathetic.

Your local police or all local police? I'd like you to prove that. I have a lot of friends that are cops and they are very intelligent, very disciplined, and could kick my arse a thousand times over.

I also work with cops from all over the state of Minnesota, from backwoods townships to (relatively) big cities and they are highly intelligent, always professional and respectful. In fact, they're my favorite people to work with. They can be a bit abrasive or even harsh on occassion, but only if you try to feed them some bullsh*t... which is actually a refreshing change from the politicians I have to deal with.


RE: cant believe it
By Screwballl on 9/25/2009 4:11:41 PM , Rating: 2
We know it is not ALL local police... but in most areas of FL, the small town local cops are smart; the sherrifs and deputies are donut eating overweight slackers (there are 2 that live right up the street from me), plus the closer to the county or state level you get, the more corrupt the whole department gets.

Here is what happened to the main county and elected Sheriff for our county (who also is tied into previous sheriffs and probably several more that are running to fill his spot):

http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/40424982.html


RE: cant believe it
By ChickenMcTest on 9/25/2009 11:47:55 AM , Rating: 2
Dude the cops would need to have beaten the homeowner to death with the wii controller, then, they might be placed on administrative leave for two weeks.

No chance in hell they are fired, and reprimanded means a blanket memo will be sent out.


RE: cant believe it
By Silver2k7 on 9/28/2009 1:48:35 AM , Rating: 2
blah if it would have been a pool table would it still have been on this site??

c'mon this is hardly news, this is somekind of paied advert for Nintendo ??

and why type in wii addiction 700 times into the article.. i seriousley doubt any of them are addicted to gaming lol.


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