The Portland Police Bureau has officially fired Sergent Scott Westerman, the former president of the Portland police union who verbally assaulted a Smart car driver twice in January 2010. According to PPB Chief Michael Reese, Westerman was in violation of a heap of Bureau regulations, including truthfulness, courtesy, and professional conduct.

"I have determined that Sergeant Westerman did violate the above directives and that termination of his employment is the appropriate level of discipline," writes Reese in a press release. He also added that Mayor Sam Adam was included in this decision.

Following the pair of road rage incidents coupled with heavy news coverage, Westerman announced his resignation from the Police Association union in June of last year. However, he remained with the Police Bureau on the telephone reporting unit. His termination will conclude 19 consecutive years of service at the PPB.

Kudos to the Portland police for taking the clearly necessary move of firing Westerman. They could have just let him live out his days in the telephone unit, rather than taking a public stand against his disrespectful behavior. Compared to many cases where police officers in similar cases of violation are simply reassigned to a different department with a slap on the wrist, this smart move makes it seem that Reese isn't always afraid to lay down the law among law enforcers.