Lobster-diving on police patrol sounded more like a joke than an offense, until the jury verdict came in at $4.1 million. That’s serious money. The award went to three Long Beach officers who sued the city because, they claimed, they were retaliated against after reporting illegal dives by colleagues on boat patrol in the Port of Long Beach. But they haven’t collected it yet. The three are Officer Craig Patterson, Officer Warren Harris and Sgt. David Gage, who got $1.56 million, $1.36 million and $1.16 million, respectively. They alleged that because they reported on their colleagues’ misdeeds they were passed over for promotions or better assignments and subjected to harassment by other officers. The jurors were convinced after three days of deliberation, although we’re not so sure. It’s not clear whose judgment was right when it came to reassignments or promotion, although we wouldn’t doubt for an instant that other officers saw them as “snitches” and showed it. We’ve been critical in the past about the city refusing to settle in a case like this, but this wasn’t an easy call. Settling means acknowledging management misconduct, which city officials strongly disagreed with, and it can serve as a juicy invitation for more lawsuits. The lobster-diving occurred in the fall of 2003 in the Police Department’s Port Security Unit, which was formed in response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The four men involved got reprimands and were reassigned. What didn’t help the city’s case was that their new assignments were hardly punitive (the plaintiffs complained that they actually were paid more), and one of the men, Sgt. Richard Hill, proudly displayed a stuffed lobster on his desk. Worse, another, David Frazier, later got fired for having sex with a 17-year-old Explorer Scout (facts that weren’t admitted into evidence, but were hardly a secret). The city hasn’t written any checks yet, and could ask a judge to reduce the awards. But whatever the amount, it won’t be small, and the lessons are painful. What is not a joke about this incident is that illegal behavior on duty is not something a police officer does, ever, and whistle-blowing is something a department takes seriously and acts upon quickly, always. The cost of doing otherwise is much too high.