In the picturesque town of Old Orchard Beach, Maine, where the sun shines bright and the waves crash gently, not everything is as lovely as it seems. The local police department is knee-deep in a pickle, and not the delicious, crunchy kind. They’ve accidentally employed a reserve police officer named John Luke Evans, who just so happens to be from Jamaica and has overstayed his visa. Now, you might think that’s the plot of a really bizarre sitcom episode, but it’s real life! Evans was recently detained by ICE after he allegedly tried to purchase a firearm, which is a big no-no if you’re, you know, supposed to be a cop and you’re not legally allowed to be here in the first place.

Imagine that: a cop trying to buy a gun while being an “illegal alien.” If it weren’t so serious, it would practically be a comedy sketch! It’s like if a fish tried to ride a bicycle – it just doesn’t add up. The folks at ICE are claiming this is a classic case of someone breaking the law while trying to protect and serve. It seems Officer Evans’s choice to aim for “Law and Order: Actual Lawbreaker” was a bit misguided, and led to his predictable downfall. It’s not like he was trying to buy a soft serve ice cream machine for the kids – no, this was serious business!

Now, this incident raises some eyebrows. Old Orchard Beach’s Police Chief, Elise Chard, is standing by her team, stating that they followed all the correct procedures. They checked all the necessary boxes and ensured that Evans was authorized to work, supposedly by the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify program. Honestly, it sounds a bit like they were playing a game of valid documents roulette, and the house always wins. So, is it a failure of the police department, or does the buck stop elsewhere?

But let’s make this clear: hiring a reserve officer who later turns out to be in the country illegally while trying to purchase a gun raises more questions than a game of “Who Am I?” The police chief insists the paperwork was all in line, which makes you wonder—was anyone even checking the expiration dates? It’s like baking a cake and forgetting to check if the eggs are still good. By this point, everyone’s entitled to ask why there wasn’t at least a double-check on the documents when it comes to someone potentially wielding a badge and a firearm!

And for the townspeople of Old Orchard Beach, there’s an unsettling mix of outrage and confusion. They’re facing an embarrassing situation. Who at the local police department hit the snooze button on verifying Evans’s status? And how on Earth can a non-citizen be given the badge to uphold the law? It’s a shaky balancing act wherein the town’s attempt to embrace diversity has backfired spectacularly. The locals might be thinking long and hard about the phrase “trust the process.” Sometimes, the process needs to undergo a serious overhaul like a vehicle getting a complete engine makeover.

In a world filled with many moving parts, it’s easy to forget that behind every badge is a person, and this incident just goes to show how critical it is to verify that the people upholding the law are, well, legal themselves. Until this saga plays out in the courts, Officer Evans’s fate hangs like a beach towel on a line—fluttering in the wind, uncertainly swaying between two directions. Let’s hope for the sake of Old Orchard Beach they sort this out before someone else decides that a police badge and a criminal record go together like peanut butter and jelly. Because let’s be honest, no one wants to live in a town where the joke is on the cops!