Seattle Police Officer Fired Over ‘Extremely Profane’ Instagram Posts Attacking Obama and Clinton
CONSEQUENCES
A Seattle police officer was fired after the city’s police oversight office found that the officer’s Instagram posts violated the department’s social-media policy. The unidentified officer was terminated after admitting that his statements on Instagram “negatively impacted the department’s ability to serve the public, as well as that the postings were unprofessional,” according to a case summary published by Seattle’s police oversight office. In one post reviewed by the Office of Police Accountability, investigators said a photo showing a “mail package bomb” had a caption referencing former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “I don’t condone sending package bombs but god it would be nice for Killary and Anti cop Obama to finally STFU,” the post’s caption said.
In another post, the officer wrote, “If you support illegal immigrants coming into our country so much then make a difference and bring them into your home and YOU support them you [expletive],” according to OPA documents. The OPA report said multiple posts included the hashtags #maga and #trump2020. The internal investigation was opened after the OPA received an anonymous complaint in November 2018, flagging several posts that used “extremely profane language” and “attack[ed] certain groups of people.” It is unclear when Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best terminated the officer, according to The Seattle Times.