MONTREAL -- A Montreal police officer is being disciplined after being photographed with a woman on his lap while he sat in his patrol car.
Cmdr. Ian Lafreniere, a Montreal police spokesman, says the sanctions could include a suspension from duty.
Lafreniere says the force first heard about the incident on Tuesday night when it appeared on Twitter.
He said the initial reaction was that the grainy photo was faked because there was no indication where it happened or when.
No identifying number on the car was obvious. Police later got a tip that the person who took the picture had those details.
Lafreniere says it then took about an hour on Wednesday to track down the officer, who was called in to meet with his commander.
"For us, this is completely unacceptable," Lafreniere said in an interview Wednesday evening.
He said police are now investigating what led to the incident and where the officer's partner was.
Lafreniere also said the woman was not naked and there was no sexual act as has been reported.
"We take this seriously," Lafreniere said. "A lot of police officers are not happy now because it's extremely bad for their job, their professionalism. This is not all the force. This is not the way officers are working in Montreal. This is one case."
