PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A department-wide ban prohibiting police from smoking while on-duty or in uniform has been rescinded by Interim Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson.
In October, Johnson's predecessor ordered officers to stub out their cigarettes after a newspaper photograph showed an officer smoking as he helped lift a man in a wheelchair outside a burning building.
But the Fraternal Order of Police objected and filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. A hearing is scheduled this week.