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FB comments by local police officers about Zimmerman.
A veteran Belle Meade police officer recently weighed in on the controversial Trayvon Martin case in Florida on his Facebook page, raising questions about his credibility as a law enforcement officer and about government employees? use of social media.
The Nashville satellite city?s top officials declined to discipline or criticize the officer after The Tennessean asked about the posts Tuesday, saying they did not have ?any official position? on the situation.
Officer Dennis Goins posted two mobile uploads Sunday that touched on the case of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, an African-American who was allegedly shot and killed last month by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Fla. The case has drawn national attention, with some people saying Zimmerman shot an innocent, unarmed youth after a 911 dispatcher had told him not to pursue the teen, while others say the case isn?t so clear cut. Critics also have attacked Sanford police for failing to investigate the shooting thoroughly.
One of Goins? posts shows a photo of a smiling Zimmerman, dressed in coat and tie, next to a picture of an unsmiling African-American teen who appears to be dressed in all black, his baseball cap turned backward. It claims to flip a common pairing of Zimmerman and Martin.
Under the heading ?Media Bias,? the text accompanying the photos reads, ?Because nothing says fair like putting a mugshot looking photo in ?county orange? next to a 5 year old picture of the victim as a child. But hey, two can play that game.?
Goins, who ran for Metro Council in 1999, commented alongside the post, ?Let the cops investigate this before due process is throw(n) out the window.?
The post was similar to one on the Twitchy.com site Sunday afternoon. The site, founded by conservative pundit Michelle Malkin, later apologized for including a photo that ?is not of the Trayvon Martin who was shot by Zimmerman.?
The Orlando Sentinel?s website reported Friday that it had obtained the photo of Zimmerman smiling. Before then, a 2005 mug shot had been ?the primary image of him in the media,? the Sentinel reported.
Goins? other comment also claimed media bias in the case of Bob and Nancy Strait, an elderly white Oklahoma couple who were allegedly attacked by Tyrone Woodfork, a young black man. The text under those photos said the case was ?never reported in the U.S.,? though an Oklahoma TV station started covering it on March 14.
Woodfork was formally charged with felony first-degree murder, two counts of robbery with a firearm and first-degree burglary on Monday, the Tulsa World reported.
Jerry Maynard, one of 10 Metro Council members included among Goins? 1,479 Facebook friends, said the postings were offensive. He said the Sanford police investigation was ?egregious.?
?Thank God he doesn?t work for the Metro Police Department,? Maynard said. ?If you?re a police officer or a prosecutor, you should not be making comments about a case like this. If you?re involved in a department where a case like this might come up, you do not want to show any sense of prejudice or bias or an opinion.?
No Facebook policy
Goins, who has worked for the Belle Meade Police Department since 1987, according to his Facebook page, did not respond to a cellphone message or an email seeking comment. He is the department?s longest-serving officer, City Manager Beth Reardon said.
Belle Meade is a mostly white enclave in West Nashville. The private Belle Meade Country Club has been under fire because no African-Americans have full membership privileges there.
The city?s police chief, Tim Eads, was unavailable Tuesday, Reardon said. She said Belle Meade does not have a policy for employees? use of social media, though Eads has been working on one.
?Our position at this time is that we recognize the employee?s right to free speech, but do not have any official position regarding the posting on Facebook by Officer Goins,? Reardon wrote in an email.
Belle Meade Mayor Gray Thornburg did not respond to an email seeking comment. Vice Mayor James Hunt didn?t return a phone call.
Christopher Hogan, an attorney in Columbus, Ohio, recently suggested that a city would have a right to discipline an employee for social media musings posted while off the clock.
?Even in cases where a public employee speaks in his or her capacity as a citizen on a matter (of) public concern, a public employer may still premise disciplinary action on the speech if it?s legitimate interest in the efficient performance of the workplace outweighs the employee?s First Amendment interest in the speech and the general public?s interest in hearing the speech,? Hogan, an employment law specialist, wrote on his law firm?s website.
Metro police do not have a policy on social media usage, spokesman Don Aaron said. They do have a policy that says, ?Employees shall at all times conduct themselves in a manner which does not bring discredit to themselves, the Department or the City.?
Metro government has an ?acceptable use? policy governing information technology and is working on a social media policy, said Keith Durbin, the city?s chief information officer. The policy might prohibit all social media use on the clock unless employees need it for work purposes, Durbin said. Metro Water Services and the Davidson County Sheriff?s Office have already instituted such policies.
A New Orleans police officer was suspended Monday for making inflammatory comments about the Martin case under an online news story. New Orleans Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas, who was Nashville?s police chief from 2004 to 2010, said he was ?furious? about Officer Jason Giroir?s postings, The Times-Picayune reported. Giroir resigned on Tuesday.
