Beware if you are a police officer - they have been scouring the internet for any social media or other internet postings that can be traced back to you.

Anything you say online can and will be held against you.

Several more cities will be hit with this soon as they release more of their database.

https://wreg.com/2019/06/20/ph...cers-facebook-posts/

Philadelphia, St. Louis police departments roiled by officer’s Facebook posts

PHILADELPHIA — The police departments of Philadelphia and St. Louis are taking action following allegations that officers posted hateful or racist content on social media. In Philadelphia, 72 officers were taken off the streets and placed on administrative duty, and in St. Louis, 22 officers have been barred from bringing their cases to the Circuit Attorney’s Office.

The social media 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.”

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner put the 22 officers on her office’s exclusion list this week, her office said in a news release.

“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,” Gardner said in the release. “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.”

The office is currently not prosecuting cases where these officers serve as primary witnesses. Circuit attorney spokeswoman Susan C. Ryan said she does not know how many cases that affects.

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.

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, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said Wednesday 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 Plain View Project combed through thousands of posts from officers in eight jurisdictions in the United States. 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.

How the Plain View Project came about
Emily Baker-White, a former federal public defender in Philadelphia, got the idea for Plain View and launched it in 2017 after she was assigned to a police brutality case and found an inflammatory social media post by one of the officers involved.

“That made me ask the question, how prevalent is this stuff? How much of this stuff is out there?” she said.

Funded by private donation, Baker-White and her team pored through the Facebook accounts of more than 2,800 current officers and nearly 700 former officers.

They wound up flagging posts by 556 of the current officers — about one in 5 of those studied — and 299 former officers. The database includes more than 5,000 posts, as well as comments on the posts. The results were jointly published on Saturday by Injustice Watch, a not-for-profit journalism organization that provided administrative support as Plain View Project’s fiscal sponsor, and by BuzzFeed News.

Big Brother is watching you.
The thought police are going after the police police.
So I'm guessing it's pretty much exclusively white LEO's that were targeted with this nonsense.

Finally. The cities will be safe, now.

Flip side is if you are stupid enough to post stupid shit online, thinking that it can't bounce back on you or the public position you hold...

Well then you are a fucking idiot...

Wonder what they'd find it they dug deep into the social media posts of the people at Plain View Project doing this.

Gross insanity.

quote:

Wonder what they'd find it they dug deep into the social media posts of the people at Plain View Project doing this.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I am certain there are ways to scrub your accounts if you have the expertise and connections. I cannot imagine becoming involved i this sort of thing without thinking of that.

It’s not just the police. Plenty of companies are now asking for your social media passwords to check you out before hiring you. In this day and age you have to be pretty dumb to be engaging in some of these activities.

The problem is yes many things have been inappropriate forever but with some things the bar is constantly moving.

quote:

Beware if you are a police officer - they have been scouring the internet for any social media or other internet postings that can be traced back to you.
Anything you say online can and will be held against you.

Be careful out there. Police officers are always under scrutiny.

more proof that no good can come from social media.

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
It’s not just the police. Plenty of companies are now asking for your social media passwords to check you out before hiring you. In this day and age you have to be pretty dumb to be engaging in some of these activities.

The problem is yes many things have been inappropriate forever but with some things the bar is constantly moving.

I had one friend get asked this, and his question was, "Are you asking me to violate the terms of service of the provider and potentially be banned from the platform?" He was met with confused silence.

He took a job with a competitor.

quote:

Originally posted by 95flhr:
more proof that no good can come from social media.

Plenty of good can come of it. Just apply a simple rule. Everything is recorded, don't be an idiot.

Lots of people don't understand the first part and ignore the second.

Agreed

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
It’s not just the police. Plenty of companies are now asking for your social media passwords to check you out before hiring you. In this day and age you have to be pretty dumb to be engaging in some of these activities.

The problem is yes many things have been inappropriate forever but with some things the bar is constantly moving.

I am not nor have been on facebook or any other "social media". Just the good ol Sigforum

quote:

Originally posted by 95flhr:
more proof that no good can come from social media.

I don't know how to break this to you but online discussion forums are one type of social media.
Just depends on who holds the keys if they're good or bad.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:

quote:

Originally posted by 95flhr:
more proof that no good can come from social media.

I don't know how to break this to you but online discussion forums are one type of social media.
Just depends on who holds the keys if they're good or bad.

The reality is the Fake News Media would present all of us on this forum as being members of a Right Wing Racist Extremist forum (the narrative would include quotes and information from Southern Poverty Law Center to prove their points).....as long a it fit whatever narrative they were presenting.

Wait until the investigation is done and through. I have heard some of the officers caught up in this were nailed for being Civil War and WWII re-en actors.

quote:

Originally posted by jsbcody:

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:

quote:

Originally posted by 95flhr:
more proof that no good can come from social media.

I don't know how to break this to you but online discussion forums are one type of social media.
Just depends on who holds the keys if they're good or bad.

The reality is the Fake News Media would present all of us on this forum as being members of a Right Wing Racist Extremist forum (the narrative would include quotes and information from Southern Poverty Law Center to prove their points).....as long a it fit whatever narrative they were presenting.

Wait until the investigation is done and through. I have heard some of the officers caught up in this were nailed for being Civil War and WWII re-en actors.

True dat.
The saving grace with this forum is that it's privately owned by someone who really cares about the content and it's members.

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
Wonder what they'd find it they dug deep into the social media posts of the people at Plain View Project doing this.

Agreed, and I have to wonder just how they managed to get all that information?

Did they break laws in doing it? If so, will they be prosecuted? Nah,

quote:

Originally posted by BamaJeepster:

"we have concluded that this bias would likely influence an officer’s ability to perform his or her duties in an unbiased manner.”

Confederate imagery, anti-Muslim sentiments, violent rhetoric and racist comments.

Confederate imagery----So a person can sport a flag from ANYWHERE in this world, just not THAT one....Got it. You can be proud of where you come from but I can't.


anti-Muslim sentiments----Hope there weren't any soldiers that fought the dirty little bastards or anyone that had any family lost because of their actions on 9/11/2001.


and racist comments----That can be construed 1000 different ways. Hell, I'll bet most of it isn't even blatant. Some folks can see racism anywhere with any comment.

There are about to be a few more cities like Baltimore.

Brings to mind the song, "Silence is Golden"