The snapshot of Snoop and trooper Billy L. Spears was taken when the trooper was in his uniform while working at the South by Southwest music and technology festival last month.
- Apr 2, 2015
AceShowbiz - A Department of Public Safety trooper Billy L. Spears was ordered to undergo counseling after Snoop Dogg uploaded their picture together on his Instagram, capturing it, "Me and my deputy dogg." According to documents made public on Wednesday, April 1, DPS concluded that the action "reflects poorly on the agency" since he posed together with a known criminal.
"While working a secondary employment job, Trooper Spears took a photo with a public figure who has a well-known criminal background including numerous drug charges," said the order. "The public figure posted the photo on social media and it reflects poorly on the agency."
In letters to public safety officials and prosecutors, Spears' attorney Ty Clevenger wrote that it was Snoop's publicist who took the photo, not Spears. The letter also said that Spears didn't have any idea about Snoop's long arrest record. On Wednesday the lawyer wrote further in an online post saying, "Believe it or not, some folks don't watch TMZ or read People Magazine."
Clevenger argued that the action was actually an act of revenge against Spears for having reported misconduct last year by an officer of a different Texas law enforcement agency. "DPS claims that the counseling forms are not really discipline, therefore the employee has no right to appeal. Yet those counseling incidents can block a trooper's chances for promotion or advancement," so he wrote.
In response to DPS's definition of "a public figure who has a well-known criminal background including numerous drug charges," Clevenger wrote, "So what's the big deal? Would the DPS hierarchy get so bent out of shape about a picture with Willie Nelson?"
