According to Dallas police officials, four officers have been placed on administrative leave and nearly two dozen others could face disciplinary measures for posting hundreds of offensive and bigoted social media comments. Dallas officials have currently refused to identify the officers placed on administrative leave.
On June 1, The Plain View Project released thousands of hateful social media comments posted by police officers throughout the nation, including Philadelphia, Phoenix, St. Louis, and Dallas. A few weeks later, at least 72 Philadelphia police officers were placed on administrative leave for posting racist and bigoted social media comments. And in St. Louis, at least 22 of these officers have been added to a list that prohibits them from bringing cases to the district attorney.
“We take these matters seriously and we want to ensure the community that we will not tolerate racism, bigotry or hatred of any kind in our organization,” Dallas police Chief U. Renee Hall said in a written statement.
“The Dallas Police Department prides itself on maintaining the highest standards of ethics and integrity while providing service to the community without prejudice,” Hall added.
Dallas police officials announced Friday that 25 officers were currently under investigation for posting social media comments that included islamophobic messages and shooting police victims. In addition, four unidentified officers have been placed on administrative leave for posting offensive comments online.
According to The Dallas Morning News, Emily Baker-White, executive director of the Plain View Project, has had several conversations with Dallas police internal affairs investigators since the database’s publication and provided the department with additional data.
“We hope this is shifting the conversations in the department away from a them-versus-us mentality and into a community policing mentality,” Baker-White said during a recent interview.
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