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Two WBR deputies out of a job for misconduct

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PORT ALLEN - Two West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's deputies are no longer employed with the department due to misconduct.

The sheriff's office said Deputy George Bowen, misplaced his department-issued service weapon and was terminated. The other deputy, David Smith, got on the radio and said he was ready to work in West Baton Rouge but never left East Baton Rouge.

"Bowen was called to the training division to swap out an old weapon for a new weapon," Major Zack Simmers said. "He did not have it. He went, looked for it, found it, light was shed and it had been missing for some time."

The weapon was eventually located, but not before Bowen went out and started using a different weapon that he had not qualified for. Bowen had a prior disciplinary action for getting into a crash in a sheriff's unit in Dallas, Texas when he was attending a funeral for a fallen officer in 2016.

Deputy David Smith had prior discipline as well.

Smith crashed into a pole at a Walmart in West Baton Rouge Parish last year. He was administered a breathalyzer which showed he had alcohol in his system, but was not considered legally drunk. He received a 30-day suspension for the incident.

On Jan. 2, 2020, Smith called in to the sheriff's office saying he was ready for his work day and would take calls, but the GPS on his car showed he never left Baton Rouge.

"We called him in, and when we called him in he had his resignation letter and had he not resigned he would have been terminated also," Simmers said.

Simmers said this discipline should send a message.

"We want to be as transparent as possible," Simmers said. "We have zero tolerance for misbehavior around here. A minor violation, you will be disciplined and not terminated. But, we don't consider these minor violations. It's 2020, we are stepping up and the good are not going to suffer for the bad anymore."

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