Let’s take a moment and review law enforcement ethics. Here are three statements one of which is not true, care to guess which one? I am entitled to my opinion. I have the liberty to express my opinion. Because of my liberty to express my opinion, there will be no consequence to such expressed opinion. Oh, and these statements all apply to law enforcement officials.
Every choice has a consequence. And, if you express your opinion on social media publicly and assume no consequence you are woefully misguided. Like it or not, you are not free to express your liberty of free speech on social media and assume that there will be no consequence. Below you will find examples of law enforcement ethics in action.
Free Speech is not so Free!
An internal investigation related to a sarcastic Facebook comment cost a police officer his commission. Tennessee policeman, Anthony Venable was decommissioned after making a Facebook post referencing the police-involved shooting in Falcon Heights, Minn., pending the results of an internal investigation. His comment:
“Yeah. I would have done 5,” Venable wrote during a Facebook conversation, according to police in a statement Thursday evening.
Likewise, two Memphis police officers have been suspended for what was called a “disturbing image” on social media.
Law Enforcement Ethics and Social Media – this isn’t the first time
The following is a list (certainly not complete) of law enforcement officers who have found career stumbling blocks with social media posts:
- Fired for violating his office’s social media policy, Kenneth Lewis, an assistant state attorney found that public comments have consequences. He condemned the Orlando nightclubs as “zoos; utter cesspools of debauchery.”
- In June 2016 Ashley Carlson, a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officer, found herself under investigation after posting a pic of an unconscious man with his pants around his knees who defecated on the transit station floor.
- When he call a Black Lives Matter activist’s suicide a “happy ending,” officer Lee Cry was fired from his Ohio law enforcement position.
- Placed on leave, Jason Montalbano caused his police department to apologize for a Facebook post in which he shared a pic of a mushroom cloud from an atomic blast, and stated, “It’s time we made peace with Islam.”
- Urging people to “run them over” if Black Lives Matter protesters block the streets, Sgt. Jeffrey Rothecker, a 22 year veteran resigned from the St. Paul MN Police Department.
- Suspended without pay caused a Georgia Sheriff’s deputy to resign after he posted a joke on Facebook about shooting Black Lives Matter activists.
and the list could continue for pages.
Every Choice has a Consequence!
Often we take for granted “free speech” yet too many times we believe that what we say has no consequences. As American’s we do have the right to express our opinions. Nothing, however, guarantees that those opinions won’t have consequences.
In the world we live in, especially now, when it comes to law enforcement ethics, we need to err on the side of caution and understanding instead of giving into the notion that we’re somehow to free to continue to express our respective prejudices.
YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME!
To the Andrew Lack of NBC. CBS anchor Otis Livingston that i met told me scary story when he had secret sexual cantact with Andrew Lack’s spouse Betsy Lack, Otis Livingston also wants to kill Betsy Lack if she will open her mouth. Andrew Lack’s famely must becareful of maniac Otis Livingston!!!!!!!!!!!!!!