As the enforcement officer for Haines City (FL) Police Department’s red-light camera program, Tim Glover said he’s written citations to friends, relatives, ambulance drivers and even other cops.
But until now, he’d never faced having to write a ticket to himself.
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“That was the most expensive Cuban sandwich I’ve ever bought,” Glover said, referencing the lunch trip that led to his ticket.
At the time, Glover didn’t even know it happened, he said.
“When I saw the video, I saw the marked car and knew it was going to be me or one of my fellow officers,” he said.
He watched again as the car rolled through the red light at Old Polk City Road in Haines City. When he zeroed in on the patrol car’s unit number, he said, his immediate thought was “Uh-oh.”
“I got up and walked out to the parking lot and looked at my car, and I said, ‘Holy smoke, it was me.’”
Glover, a 30-veteran of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office before he retired six years ago and joined Haines City, said he knew what he had to do.
“There wasn’t any doubt when I saw it,” he said. “I had to take responsibility for it.”
Acting Police Chief Jay Hopwood said he wasn’t surprised by Glover’s honesty.
“I’ve known Tim since we worked at the jail together in the 1980s,” said Hopwood, who had worked at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and later at Winter Haven Police Department. “The integrity he has, that shows me the type of person he is. He’s not going to try to hide anything. The honesty he shows in his job — it’s always been there.