A
few days ago, I mentioned the “Plain View Project,” a group of researchers who
identified and analyzed thousands of social media posts, written by hundreds of
active and retired law enforcement officers around the country. The posts
contained explicitly racist, sexist, homophobic, or xenophobic content, as well
as calls to commit acts of violence against certain classes of people, and
calling on emergency services personnel to provide lower levels of services to
those demographics.
The
Plain View Project (hereinafter PVP) is named for the “Plain View Doctrine,” a
legal concept that holds police officers may seize evidence of criminal
activities that are in plain view, even if they do not have a search warrant.
The doctrine hinges on a three-prong test, referred to as “the Horton test:”[1]
- The officer is lawfully present at the place where the
evidence can be plainly viewed;
- The officer has a lawful right of access to the object; and
- The incriminating character of the object is immediately
apparent.[2]
The
Project’s belief is that by posting messages to a public forum such as Facebook
or Twitter, the officers have surrendered any “expectation of privacy” and that
publishing these posts gives any reader the right of access to them. They also
feel that explicit expressions of racism, white supremacy, Islamophobia, etc.,
that are “readily apparent” make the posts eligible for inclusion in their
database.
As
many of you know, I was a police officer for 14 years in Connecticut. Even in
those days – the 1970s and 19802s – racism was rampant in the law enforcement
community, although not to the extent that it is today. At the time, I thought
I understood why. I didn’t condone it, but I understood it: police officers dealt
overwhelmingly with African-American offenders (I am ignoring for the moment
any underlying causation for the statement). If the vast majority of
“dirtballs” we arrested were African-American, it seemed logical that, over
time, officers would develop the opinion that all African-Americans were
“dirtballs.” Obviously, it is not that simple. The “Have-Nots” will always be
envious of the “Haves,” especially if they “have-not” because of the conscious
actions of the “Haves.” The minority communities in those days (predominantly
black and Hispanic) had little or nothing to begin with and would most likely
never have the opportunity to get ahead, so it was understandable perhaps that
they took whatever they could get their hands on.
In
situations that still occur today, whites accused of certain transgressions –
petty larceny, drunk driving, simple possession – were given a very different
level of “justice” which usually consisted of a slap on the wrist from the
officer and release, where minority subjects were arrested and formally
charged. For example, Brock Turner, the Stanford University swimming star
convicted of rape, was sentenced to only six months in prison, but
served only three months (and complained about that).[3]
There was also Ethan Couch, the Texas teen who killed four and injured nine
others in a drunk-driving crash, and was given ten years probation,
because he didn’t understand boundaries since his wealthy never set any.[4] I
consciously tried to avoid that trap, and perhaps went too far the other way,
arresting whites in cases where I gave minorities a break.
Be
that as it may, however, there was wide-spread racism in those days, directed
against all minority groups – blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Middle Easterners,
Irish, etc. In some neighborhoods, the most bigoted segment of the population
was the Italians, who referred to blacks as “mulignans” or eggplants,
despite the fact that the “guineas” had themselves faced significant
discrimination in the past.
Anyway….
On
July 18, the City of Philadelphia fired 13 police officers for posts included
in the PVP database, which the Philadelphia Inquirer called “an
unprecedented wave of terminations.”[5]
I continue to be very angered and disappointed by
these posts, many of which, in my view, violate the basic tenets of human
decency,” [Philadelphia
Police Commissioner Richard] Ross said, adding that the department
must “move past this ridiculous hate that just consumes this country and has
done so for centuries.[6]
Among
the posts identified by the PVP was one by Sgt Joseph Przepiorka – who probably
would have been furious had someone referred to him as a “dumb Pollack” –
showing a skeleton wearing an American flag, holding a gun, with the phrase
“Death to Islam” across the top. Another, posted by Sgt Mark Palma, said “Got
to make a trip to WAL-MART tonight, yes a friday [sic] night at the
ghetto mart. Im sure ill c [sic] all types of creatures tonight.” One reply,
from another officer, Sean Dandridge, said: You should bring some of my new
invention: “HeffaRemover”. It smells of books, knowledge, and natural hair.
Heffas don’t like any of the aforementioned things….” [7]
Of
the 72 Philadelphia officers named by the PVP, 13 are being fired, 4 are
receiving 30-day unpaid suspensions, 52 are receiving punishments ranging from
reprimands to 5-day suspensions, and 3 are receiving no discipline.
The
police union, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, of course, is hysterical that
their members are being disciplined for being racists.
Meanwhile,
in St Louis, another city named in the PVP report, Circuit Attorney[8]
Kimberly M. Gardner named 22 police officers banned from bringing cases to her
office, after the officers involved were identified by PVP. Her office will not
bring charges, apply for search or arrest warrants, or allow those officers to
testify, based on their involvement with racist and anti-Muslim posts.[9]
“Police integrity is at the core of the community’s
confidence in the criminal justice system,” Gardner wrote. “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.”[10]
Circuit
Attorney Gardner is absolutely correct. When a police officer posts such
explicitly offensive posts as those identified by the PVP, it does call the
officer’s credibility into question. After all, can a police officer who posts
anti-Muslim screeds be believed when he is dealing with a Muslim suspect? How
about if the victim is Muslim… will he or she receive a fair and impartial
investigation?
And,
of course, the Police Officer’s Association, the St Louis police union, is
shrieking that the officers’ personal and professional reputations could be
permanently damaged if they are revealed as racists, white supremacists, or
Islamophobes.
Further
west, in Phoenix, Police Chief Jeri Williams has pulled an unspecified number
of her cops from their “enforcement assignments” and placed them on desk duty
“so that they can’t engage with the public,” in response to the PVP findings.
97 Phoenix officers – 75 active and 22 retired – were identified by PVP
researchers. “There were some employees that had some very egregious posts that
were racist, sexually motivated, religiously motivated. Just pure hate,” she
said. “And we need to look into the veracity of that potential misconduct.”[11]
Phoenix Councilman Sal DiCiccio said anyone offended by the racist posts was a
“liberal snowflake,” and that the posts aren’t indicative of a biased culture. His
use of the term “liberal snowflake” indicates that he, as a staunch
conservative, most likely agrees with the hatred posted. Phoenix PD, by the
way, is 73% white, 19% Hispanic, and 4% African-American, in a city that is 42%
white, 43% Hispanic, and 7% African-American.
Of
course, racism in law enforcement is not restricted to the communities –
Philadelphia, St Louis, Phoenix, Dallas, Dennison (TX), Twin Falls (ID), York
(PA), Lake County (Florida) – included in the PVP database.
Former
Detroit police officer Sean Bostwick was fired after posting “another night to
Rangel [sic] up these animals.” Bostwick was already on thin ice,
though, having had his probationary period extended due to low test scores and
other issues.[12] Another (now-former)
Detroit officer, Gary Steele, had numerous problems:
- He and his partner Michael Garrison (now also a former
officer) taunted a female motorist by saying, “Bey, Felicia,” as she walked
home from a traffic stop in January of 2019. They posted a video to SnapChat,
bearing frames that said, “What black girl magic looks like” and “Celebrating
Black History Month.” (Garrison was also suspended for 60 days for shooting
deer in a city park while on duty)
- In 2018, Steele broke the arm of another black female, after
an altercation.
- Steele had a felony arrest record as a result of a 2008
incident in which he fired a gun at his girlfriend[13]
Mohamed
Noor, a Somali-American police officer in Minneapolis was sentenced to 12-1/2
years in prison for killing a white woman, leading many to ask if the sentence would
have been the same if the races of shooter and victim had been reversed (hint:
no way, a white cop would not even have been charged, most likely, never mind
convicted. For example, Officer Daniel Pantaleo of the NYPD, will not face
charges for killing Eric Garner using a banned chokehold.)
Washington,
DC, NYPD and LAPD have been in the news almost every week for one problem or
another, many related to race relations in those cities.
All
this is in addition, of course, to the vicious and disgusting posts on the
Border Patrol Facebook group “I’m 10-15,” which I discussed several days ago.[14]
As
a former police officer, things like this disgust me. The people who would post
– and obviously believe in – such hatred and fear and loathing have no business
being in law enforcement. They disgrace a once-noble profession.
I
believe one could make a case that actions like these on the part of law
enforcement are, in part, responsible for some of the recent attacks against
law enforcement officers, such as when Jerad and Amanda Miller murdered Las Vegas police officers Igor Soldo and Alyn
Beck in 2014 (although both were also heavily involved in the “Patriot
Movement” and other anti-government activities).
More later over most of tbhis same blog.
[1] Horton v. California, 496
U.S. 128 (1990)
[5] Palmer, Chris,
“Philadelphia Police Department to fire 13 officers over offensive Facebook
posts,”
Philadelphia Inquirer, July 18, 2019, retrieved 07-20-2019.
[6] Quoted in Palmer, above.
[7] Shaw, Julie, and Lash,
Nathaniel, “Here are examples of alleged Facebook posts by Philadelphia police
officers,”
Philadelphia Inquirer, June 1, 2019, retrieved 07-20-2019.
[8] Circuit Attorney is
similar to District Attorney
[9] Byers, Christine, “22 more
St. Louis officers added to list of cops on prosecutor’s ‘exclusion’ list,”
St
Louis Post-Dispatch, June 19, 2019, retrieved 07-20-2019
[13] Jordan, Jeralyn, “White
Detroit Police officer reassigned after taunting young black woman in Snaopchat
video,” Detroit Metro Times, Jan 31, 2019,
https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2019/01/31/white-detroit-police-officer-reassigned-after-taunting-young-black-woman-in-snapchat-video,
retrieved 07-20-2019, and Siacon, Aleanna, “Ex-Detroit Police officers accused
of misconduct in new lawsuits,” Detroit Free Press, Apr 26, 2019,
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2019/04/26/detroit-police-racism-snapchat/3586812002/,
-retrieved 07/20/2019
