DPD Officers’ Racist, Misogynistic Social Media Posts Are No Joke. We Can’t Tolerate This From Those Empowered to Protect Us

It’s tempting to write off the troubling social media posts by some Dallas police officers as just bad jokes or stressed-out cops letting off steam.But we understand why the report that dozens of officers have posted and shared violent, racist and misogynistic comments deeply concerns so many of us.In a community like this one with a long history of strained relationships between police officers and the people they’ve sworn to equally protect and serve, we can’t abide by behavior and a mind-set that further erodes public trust.How can an officer who expresses such vile notions about specific groups of people effectively protect and serve those people? It’s one thing to have those insidious thoughts. It’s quite another to express them in a way we know can metastasize among those who feed off such thoughts.Officers’ Facebook posts came to light after the Philadelphia-based Plain View Project looked at officers in eight U.S. cities. DPD internal affairs is now investigating 34 officers for violations to the department’s social media policy.In Philadelphia, 13 officers were fired and others disciplined for their posts. We strongly urge similar actions against DPD officers found in violation.  Continue reading...