scathing analysis by the nonprofit Plain View Project<\/a>, the two departments have responded. In Philadelphia, several officers have been terminated while in St. Louis, prosecutors have barred a number of police personnel from bringing cases against suspects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cI continue to be very angered and disappointed by these posts,\u201d Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross Jr., said on July 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ross said the department terminated 13 officers who made \u201cposts that advocated violence.\u201d He said 17 other officers still face \u201csevere disciplinary action,\u201d while another four will receive 30-day suspensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In St. Louis, Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner said she added 22 officers to her \u201cexclusion list\u201d of authorities banned from bringing cases to her office after the Facebook posts were made public. In a letter sent to Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards and St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden, Gardner said seven of those 22 were \u201cpermanently banned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hayden and Gardner have said they are still investigating the Facebook posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In June, the Plain View Project determined that at least 328 active-duty police officers in various cities, including Philadelphia and St. Louis, posted content that championed violence against Muslims, immigrants and African-Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the posts, officers from rookies to the highest of rank, said the viewed African-Americans as \u201cdogs,\u201d and some wrote that they would arrive at work believing that, \u201cit\u2019s a good day for a chokehold.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, others posted their beliefs that women in hijabs were tantamount to \u201ctrash bags.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plain View Project officials counted more than 3,000 offensive posts from departments across the country, including Dallas, Denison, Tex., Lake County, Fla., Philadelphia, Phoenix, St. Louis, Twin Falls, Idaho and York, Penn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe found a very high and concerning number of posts that appear to endorse, celebrate or glorify violence and vigilantism,\u201d said Philadelphia-based attorney Emily Baker-White, who heads the Plain View Project. \u201cWe included posts that we thought could affect public trust and policing. We also included posts that seemed to emit some sort of bias against a group of people \u2013 whether if that\u2019s a minority faith, a minority race, ethnicity, immigration status, whatever it is. We saw a number of posts that appeared to denigrate those groups of people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pennsylvania State. Rep. Chris Rabb said the move by the Philadelphia Police Department to fire the officers is the right thing to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe rely on police officers to protect us, all of us, and to serve as an example of appropriate behavior in our community,\u201d said Rabb, a Democrat who represents the Philadelphia area. \u201cUnethical, racist, inappropriate behavior or comments by police officers, like that exhibited by these officers from the Philadelphia Police Department, undermines the public\u2019s trust in an institution that is supposed to serve us all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Further, Rabb said he agreed with sending the message that such behavior will not be tolerated in any police department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s not enough if those police officers are able to find employment in another community that\u2019s unsuspecting of their past behavior,\u201d said Rabb, who has introduced legislation that would ensure that officers like those being terminated cannot simply be moved to another department without leadership and the community being aware of their past behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said his bill would prevent a department from hiring a police officer who separated from their last job after a pattern of allegations, complaints or charges for inappropriate behavior. It would also ensure that the hiring departments are fully informed about whom they are hiring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis legislation would empower police chiefs and municipalities to make fully informed decisions about the officers who serve their communities,\u201d Rabb said. \u201cAccountability and transparency, which this legislation would promote, are assets in agencies and departments that strive for integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5 President John McNesby said the organization was \u201cdisappointed\u201d in the decision to fire the officers in part because they were deprived of due process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe overwhelming majority of our members serve this city with integrity and professionalism,\u201d McNesby said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
None of the terminated officers were named, but Philadelphia authorities confirmed that the highest-ranking officer fired is a sergeant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have a duty to represent ourselves and our city,\u201d Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said. \u201cWe will not allow this incident to break down the progress we have made and we pledge to do better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Police officers in Philadelphia and St. Louis are paying a heavy price for their acts of racism. Weeks after a scathing analysis by the nonprofit Plain View Project, the two departments have responded. In Philadelphia, several officers have been terminated while in St. Louis, prosecutors have barred a number of police personnel from bringing cases against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[427,1556,1557],"class_list":["post-2501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-facebook","tag-philadelphia","tag-richard-ross-jr","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2502,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2501\/revisions\/2502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}