Cops Egg House??

CARROLLTON, Texas — By now, we've seen police personnel busted for all manner of misconduct.

But egging a house?

It sounds like a joke, but it's certainly not. The Carrollton Police Department fired an officer Wednesday afternoon over the dumb stunt. And three of the department's dispatchers were terminated this month over the incident.

"This may be minor. This may be juvenile. But this is about accountability and what is acceptable," said Carrollton Assistant Police Chief Mac Tristan.
I don't know if there's a good way to lose a job, but egging a house surely qualifies as one of the world's worst ways.

Jennifer Cackler, 27, a two-year veteran of the department, was dismissed Wednesday. The fired civilian dispatchers are Cackler's sister Ashley Cackler, 22, of Carrollton; Laken Schifelbein, 20, of The Colony; and Laura Anderson, 23, of Plano.

Ashley Cackler and Schifelbein had been dispatchers for only four months. Anderson worked for the department almost two years.

Through her attorney, Jennifer Cackler declined my request for an interview. Efforts to reach the three dispatchers were unsuccessful.

Egging a house is one thing. Police retaliation is another. And this appears to have been a case of police payback – middle-school style.

On the night of May 9, the home of Carrollton resident Steve Benzer was pelted with a dozen eggs. Assistant Chief Tristan would not say what might have motivated the officer and dispatchers to do such a thing. "I'm not certain. That would be speculation on my part," he said.
But it's pretty easy to speculate after talking to Benzer. Quite clearly, the 45-year-old man is a major pain in the butt to Carrollton police.

Of course, he doesn't see himself that way. Benzer says he's just a citizen trying to restore peace to his north Carrollton neighborhood. For the last three years, he has been at war with a family across the alley – particularly with the teenage boy there. "A hellion," he said.
"It's a chaotic household. It's a party house," Benzer said. "In reporting unlawful activities, I have become vilified by police."

I'm not going to choose sides in this dispute, but I will say Benzer has a strong, stubborn personality that could definitely rub the wrong way. He has taken it upon himself to stand outside the neighboring house, performing what he calls "my civic duty to observe and report."
He summons Carrollton police repeatedly, reporting everything from a barking dog to loud music to suspicious activity at the home, which is headed by a single mother.
The woman has responded by repeatedly calling police on Benzer and filing a civil suit that seeks a restraining order to keep him away from her home.

Benzer is undeterred. "I'm sure my observing and reporting of the activities at her house is uncomfortable. I'm sure it's embarrassing. I'm sure it's unpleasant. But it's not unlawful," he said. "My intention is to make the unlawful activities come to an end."
Clearly, just what this volatile situation needed was some peeved off-duty police personnel, a night of drinking and a dozen eggs.

Deputy Chief Tristan will not say what led investigators to realize that people from their own department were involved. And he declined to discuss the case in detail because criminal mischief charges are pending in the case.

But he said he hopes the strong disciplinary measures reassure Carrollton residents.
"This could be considered minor, but where do you draw the line between which illegal acts are acceptable and which aren't?" he said. "There is no line for us."