Noah Pransky
Two weeks after the “Plain View Project” published a catalog of racist and other inappropriate social media posts by law enforcement officers from around the country, the Philadelphia Police Department has taken 72 cops off the street and announced some will be fired.
Prosecutors in St. Louis have also said they’d stop taking cases from 22 officers implicated by the watchdog site, citing compromised integrity.
But a spokesperson for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, currently investigating 16 of its own employees, says the office needs more time to consider actions it will take.
The Plain View Project published a total of 89 posts it claimed were from active and retired officers at the LCSO; the agency says more than a dozen active deputies and several corrections officers are currently being investigated for violations of internal social media policies.
The posts highlighted by the watchdog site include many advocating violence against immigrants, alleged criminals, and political protesters. Other posts mock religious groups, politicians, as well as Walmart employees.
According to Central Florida’s Spectrum News 13, the LCSO social media policy prohibits displaying photos, wording or content that is unethical, slanderous or derogatory.
The LCSO spokesperson said he would expect the internal affairs investigation to be wrapped up within weeks, not months.
The 16 deputies and officers under investigation represent approximately about 4 percent of the office’s 420 total sworn law enforcement officers. A majority of the 89 posts published on the site appeared to have been from former LCSO employees.
Other agencies with officers included in the Plain View Project database include Dallas, Phoenix, York (Pennsylvania), Twin Falls (Idaho), and Denison (Texas).
