72 police officers are off street duty over racist and hateful Facebook post

72 Philadelphia police officers are off street duty over racist and hateful Facebook posts

By Michelle Lou, CNN
Updated 7:18 PM ET, Wed June 19, 2019

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Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross called the social media posts "disturbing, disappointing and upsetting."


(CNN)Seventy-two Philadelphia police officers have been placed on administrative duty in light of racist and offensive social media posts allegedly made by the officers, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said Wednesday.

Earlier this month, Philadelphia police launched an investigation into a public database of social media posts by officers that included Confederate imagery, anti-Muslim sentiments, violent rhetoric and racist comments.

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St. Louis and Philadelphia police are investigating reports of racist, anti-Muslim Facebook posts by some city officers


As the investigation is underway, the officers have been taken off of street duty, but are still reporting to work.

An independent law firm will assist with the ongoing investigation, Ross said at a press conference. The department plans to review each post to see if the speech is constitutionally protected by the First Amendment, he added.

"If the speech is determined to be protected, no further action will be taken," Ross said. "An example would be an opinion on a matter of public concern that may be unpopular ... but does not include threats of violence or pejorative language against any protected class."

In addition, the Philadelphia Police Department will consult with the Anti-Defamation League and review its social media policies. The department aims to provide an update regarding disciplinary action in the next couple weeks.

Ross said that these posts are "disturbing, disappointing and upsetting."

"They will undeniably impact police community relations ... there's no question that this puts us in the position to work even harder than we already do to cultivate relationships with neighborhoods and individual groups that we struggle to work with, even those that we have great relationships with," Ross said.

"Our officers are entitled to due process just like any other citizen," Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #5 President John McNesby said in a statement. "We will support and represent those officers during this overly-broad social-media investigation."

"Far too many officers have been taken off the street during a time of increased violence in our city," the statement said.

The posts were compiled by The Plain View Project, which describes itself as a "database of public Facebook posts and comments made by current and former police officers from several jurisdictions across the United States." The group combed through thousands of posts from officers in eight jurisdictions in the United States.

Some of the accounts have since been deleted, but the Plain View Project provided screenshots of the posts. Since 2017, the group has compiled more than 5,000 posts from current and former officers, both in big cities such as Dallas and in smaller jurisdictions like Lake County, Florida.

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Nearly 2 dozen St. Louis officers flagged over alleged 'racially charged social media posts'

By Talia Kaplan | Fox News

The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office placed nearly two dozen city police officers on an exclusion list Tuesday after learning about recently revealed “racially charged social media posts of current and retired city police.”

An exclusion list prohibits those officers from presenting cases to the Circuit Attorney’s Office.

Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner sent a letter to the director of public safety and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police chief on Tuesday informing them of the actions she took regarding the social media posts, which Fox 2 reported were allegedly Islamophobic and racist.


Gardner said the alleged racially charged posts were revealed by the Plain View Project, a database of public Facebook posts and comments made by current and former police officers in the United States. She called the social media statements “shocking” and “beneath the dignity of someone who holds such a powerful position, especially those comments that advocate violence.”

Gardner said 22 officers were put on the exclusion list and seven of those officers were permanently banned from her warrant office after she conducted an “extensive review” of the social media posts she called “disturbing.”

The seven banned officers will not be allowed to present themselves or cases to the Circuit Attorney’s Office and cases currently under review, in which the officers are an essential witness, will be refused, Gardner said, adding that search warrants that included the officers will not be signed or approved.

She said that the other 15 officers “will be reviewed in accordance with our mutually agreed upon protocol to determine conditions for reinstatement of their ability to present cases.”

“Police integrity is at the core of the community’s confidence in the criminal justice system,” Gardner said. “When a police officer’s integrity is compromised in this manner, it compromises the entire criminal justice system and our overall ability to pursue justice.”

“After careful examination of the underlying bias contained in those social media posts, we have concluded that this bias would likely influence an officer’s ability to perform his or her duties in an unbiased manner,” she added.

When Fox News contacted The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for comment a spokesperson said, "We do not provide statements or comments regarding ongoing investigations."

Gardner said her actions were consistent with her prosecutorial discretion “necessary to ensure police actions are fair and just, and to safeguard the criminal justice system from actions rooted in bias and prejudice.”

https://www.foxnews.com/us/st-louis-...exclusion-list

At least 6 other departments are involved so far, including

Dallas Police


The Lake County Sheriff's Office in Florida