Officer’s Facebook posts condemned
Santa Fe Muslims object to disparaging memes posted by police union president
SANTA FE — Three members of Santa Fe’s Muslim community spoke out Tuesday about the local police union’s president, whose posts on Facebook have been critical or sarcastic about Islam, the NAACP, refugees, transgender people and immigration practices.
“To me, this is a huge blow to community and police relationships,” 32-year-old Fatima Van Hattum said at a city Public Safety Committee meeting. “It makes me wonder if these views are acceptable.”
Santa Fe Police Chief Patrick Gallagher has ordered an internal department investigation into Sgt. Troy Baker, head of the Santa Fe Police Officers Association, for possible off-duty conduct violations.
The probe is over public Facebook posts by Baker including memes that call the NAACP racist and describe refugees as “invaders,” and one that shows a stick figure being run over by an SUV with the words, “All lives splatter. Nobody cares about your protest. Moral of the story … stay off the road!!” Gallagher said Baker remains on full duty during the investigation.
At a meeting of the city Public Safety Committee, Samia Van Hattum, Fatima’s older sister and a licensed social worker, said she works with children who fit into the demographics Baker’s posts were aimed at. She says she tells those children to call police when they are abused or bullied.
“I’m concerned about my friends and my family and myself, but I’m mostly concerned about the children of this community,” Samia Van Hattum told Chief Gallagher. “I’m asking you to look at the culture of your department to see what you can do to promote the safety of this community.”
Baker has removed the controversial posts, but they were published in an online article by the Santa Fe Reporter. At the City Hall safety committee meeting, speakers showed images of the memes on an overhead projector. Muhammad Ali Musawi pointed to one that read: “Let’s discuss what Islam has to offer,” then lists things like rape, beheadings, female genital mutilation and “paedophilia.” Musawi asked Gallagher how the community is supposed to feel safe knowing Baker is still on duty.
A transgender man also spoke and said he was concerned. One of Baker’s posts is a meme that makes a joke about a bullet to the groin of someone with a “made-up gender.”
“We take their concerns very seriously and hope that they trust us to conduct a fair investigation,” Gallagher told the Journal after the meeting.
Gallagher also confirmed that officer Isaiah Anaya resigned Tuesday amid a separate internal investigation into “offensive and troubling” drawings he made on someone during a gathering in September. He said the case is still under investigation and the department is looking into whether other officers were involved.