Smart chief, smarter wife. Why?
Two items.......police dash cams and FOIA.
A number if issues in the Detroit area where Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) filings made by the press have uncovered dash cam video of police officers providing advantage to people in authority. One of the most recent CLEARLY showed a police officer pulling over a local politician and her husband. Both were drunk out of their gourds. Rather than arrest or ticket them, they gave them a ride home and took their car home for them.
When this footage hit the local news station, all heck broke loose. Police officers were suspended and fined, the politician opened her mouth and dug a deeper hole.
It's not clear from the article referenced in the OP, but HOW did the chief know his wife was in a position to be ticketed? Had the ticketing officer pulled up on her with dash cam rolling? Did he call the chief on a county issued cell phone? Over the police broadband? Thing is, the chief was probably smart enough to know that this was NOT just between. Him, the officer, and his wife, but that others probably also had access to this communication.
In that case, the wife was equally smart, if not smarter, for not playing the "don't you know who I am?" card.