Posted in: Games, Mobile Games, Niantic, Pokémon GO | Tagged: LAPD, Niantic, pokemon, pokemon go, Snorlax

Cops Get Fired For Playing Pokémon GO, Internet Reacts

A Pokémon GO story hit the mainstream news today, and you know what that means. That's right, it means a bunch of articles by people who don't know the first thing about the game writing as if they do, which can actually make for pretty fun reading material. The short of the story is two LAPD officers were fired for playing the game on the job. They fought for an appeal, suggesting that they were merely talking about the game while on duty and not actively playing. The appeal was shut down. There are a bunch of reports on this that get into all of the quotes and details about the scene as if the readership is looking for a play-by-play of the day that two officers shirked their responsibilities in pursuit of a Snorlax, but we won't do that here. What are we, a true-crime podcast? My Poké Murder? Last PokéStop on the Left? Sword & Shield? The basic story is that the cops were on their way to investigate a robbery when they decided to stop to hunt a Snorlax. A little Poké pit stop.

What can I say except… been there? I mean, I hear this and I less think "These guys should be fired" and I more think "gang, gang." If I were to tell you right now I've never shirked a responsibility to play Pokémon GO, I'd be falsely representing myself and I'd have to be arrested. Not by these guys, who are probably off somewhere right now doing a Team GO Rocket battle, but by someone.

Now, what's important to understand here, and which a lot of the reports hilariously miss, is that this happened back in 2017. At first, I was looking at these reports talking about how rare Snorlax is in Pokémon GO, and I immediately knew that something was off. Snorlax isn't common, but it's not something you'd go wild over right now. It makes a lot more sense when you realize the timing of the story. In 2017, would I have run out of my job to chase a Snorlax? Ahhhh, I don't know, but a Dragonite — different story.

To me, the funniest part of this retro Pokémon GO  story isn't that the cops went after a Snorlax on the job, but it's that the report has a bit where the Sergeant radios them to check-in and assist the captain, and these two for sure Team Instinct players simply said, "No." Who are these guys, the cops from Superbad? Well, even though those two on-duty Pokémon trainers didn't get to keep their job, at least they were able to hit Snorlax with the long Poké Ball of the law.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!