Ninth Circuit affirms firing of police officer who ran sex website

The First Amendment Center reports:

A former Chandler, Ariz., police officer’s First Amendment rights were not violated when he was fired for running a sexually explicit Web site with his wife, a federal appeals court panel ruled in Dible v. City of Chandler in an amended opinion.

\”It would not seem to require an astute moral philosopher or a brilliant social scientist to discern that … [such] activities, when known to the public, would be ‘detrimental to the mission and functions of the employer,’\” the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals wrote.

Ronald and Megan Dible began operating the Web site in September 2000. It featured teaser pictures of Megan Dible and offered more-explicit photographs and other material once customers paid money. The police chief had learned of the site by January 2002 and the story made the local press. Dible’s supervisor recommended his dismissal, contending that Dible allegedly provided false or misleading answers to investigators looking into the situation.

You can access the entire opinion denying Dible’s request for re-hearing by the Ninth Circuit here .