A great detective is now a free agent

Buffalo, New York Police Detective Dennis A. Delano has apparently chosen to retire rather than serve a 60-day unpaid suspension for disseminating information to the public about a local case involving a person named Lynn A. DeJac.

Delano felt the need to go to the media on his own, despite the department's bosses specifically ordering him not to, when "he saw his investigation being impeded and evidence being covered up in the DeJac case", according to his attorney, Steven Cohen.

(DeJac was imprisoned for killing her daughter, but was later freed after she was found to have been wrongly convicted, according to the story.)

It's not like Detective Delano just up and rang the local Channel 6 newspeople in a fit of pique, either:

"The detective went to higher-ups in the department, the FBI, and the Erie County district attorney’s office [none of whom seemingly paid any attention] before releasing information to the media"

Police officers should of course follow orders from their superiors without complaint or refusal to obey, barring unlawful directives or in exceptional circumstances. Refusing to allow an innocent person to go to prison for murder? That certainly counts as "exceptional" in our view, particularly since Detective Delano had already done the exact same thing in a previous case. According to his own chief,

"[Delano] had some good detective skills and perspectives that helped lead authorities to exonerate Anthony J. Capozzi, who served a long jail term for crimes committed by the Bike Path Rapist."

And now he's being forced out of the department after being directly responsible for freeing two innocent people, and despite the fact that "the governor, attorney general, Erie County and State Bar Associations all have chosen to recognize Delano’s efforts in the DeJac case"?

Buffalo's loss is some lucky community's massive gain. We predict that Delano will be retired for approximately five minutes before another force nabs him, and we kind of hope it's our own burg.