Bob,
The FF leagues sound like a way for officers to blow off steam and have some fun in an internet social environment. Only the people of New Rochelle can decide if the officers who participate are bringing a scourge to the department. I agree with your thesis that there are ethical and legal questions. This can and should be very embarrassing for the department. Should people be disciplined or fired? At first blush, no. How the department reacts to 'clean' or 'cover' things up is probably going to be a bigger story. The cover up is often worse than the crime or non-crime.

One question, were you able to ascertain any data about whether the FF web sites were accessed and used during working hours using department computers (fixed or mobile computers)? When public servants use resources and dollars that come from the public, the public is usually very disconcerted to find out that their tax dollars are wasted in this fashion.

I was a police officer in a major Midwest city for 12 years. I tried a FF league with other officers only once and didn't really like it. It was fun getting together with the guys over a few beers to do our draft but after that was over we really didn't discuss the league in person. We usually kept it to phone calls, e-mails and talking about Sunday's games before roll call.

We also had a weekly NFL pool (picking the winners of each weeks game) and sometimes the pot got as high as $1,000 to the winner. I really didn't think about the illegal gambling aspect of it because a lot of people were doing it (including the brass). I just thought of it in terms of how everyone did an office NCAA Men's Basketball pool.

We did all of our activities off duty and it didn't affect our work performance. We just thought of it as a way to blow off steam and it wasn't hurting anyone.