Dismissal of two policemen who were busy chasing Pokemon instead of thieves

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Two Los Angeles cops have been fired after they preferred tracking Pokémon to chasing robbers who were robbing a supermarket.

Luis Lozano and Eric Mitchell were scouring the city’s streets in April 2017, searching for virtual Pokemon characters through the Pokemon Go game app installed on their phones.

When the police called for reinforcements to help stop the storming of a supermarket, the two cops ignored it and continued playing, according to recordings of their conversations inside the car.

Official documents recorded in their files indicated that Mitchell alerted his colleague Lozano that “Ronflex”, a Pokémon known for its deep sleep, had just appeared.

The documents, released last week, added that twenty minutes after calling for help, the recording showed the two policemen having “a discussion about the game as they moved in different locations based on the appearance of virtual characters on their phones.”

A Los Angeles cop managed to catch Ronflex, while they had trouble catching the Pokemon “Togetic”.

“Shit, that thing pisses me off,” Mitchell said, according to the recordings.

The two policemen were tried for several violations and mistakes. They admitted that they did not respond to a request for help in the robbery, denying that they had played “Pokemon Go”.

While they asserted that they were only discussing the game, the appeals court did not believe their justifications and on Friday confirmed their dismissal.

When it was launched in 2016, the game “Pokemon Go” was downloaded by millions of people around the world, but this virtual character search game caused some problems.

Because of its great popularity, many military installations warned their soldiers of its dangers, especially near airfields.

Also, a large number of “Pokemon Go” players were involved in accidents on the roads, and one of them was accused of illegally crossing a border area to catch Pokemon.