Transphobia and hostility toward protesters are seen in private cop group

In a private Facebook group called the Pittsburgh Area Police Breakroom, many current and retired officers spent the year criticizing chiefs who took a knee or officers who marched with Black Lives Matter protesters, whom they called “terrorists” or “thugs.” They made transphobic posts and bullied members who supported anti-police brutality protesters or Joe Biden in a forum billed as a place where officers can “decompress, rant, share ideas.”

Many of the deluge of daily posts were jokes about the hardships of being officers, memorials to deceased colleagues or conversations about training and equipment. But over the group’s almost 4-year existence, a few dozen members became more vocal with posts that shifted toward proDonald Trump memes and harsh criticism of anyone perceived to support socalled “demoncrats,” Black Lives Matter or coronavirus safety measures.

In June, Tim Huschak, a corporal at the Borough of Lincoln Police Department, posted a screenshot of an Allegheny County 911 dispatcher’s Facebook page indicating that the phrase “Blue Lives Matter” used by law enforcement supporters is not equivalent to the slogan “Black Lives Matter” because policing is a choice, not a fact of birth. He wrote: “Many negative posts on police. And we should trust her with our lives???”

Some angry members rallied quickly and organized phone calls to her supervisor demanding she be fired.

“Multiple officers should call and report it. Remember NO JUSTICE NO PEACE LOL,” West Mifflin Borough Police Department officer Tommy Trieu responded under his Facebook name, Tommy Bear.

A few members of the group also were bullied or left the page.

After the AP began asking about posts last week, the group appeared to have been deleted or suspended from view.

Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone said Monday that the group was removed “for violating our policies” before the AP published its story but could not say whether it came after a complaint or as part of routine monitoring.

Contacted by the AP, Lincoln Borough Police Chief Richard Bosco said departmental policy prohibited Huschak from talking to the media. He said the officer wasn’t aware that others had posted insults under his post or that things had “gotten out of hand.”

Trieu defended his comment, telling the AP that he was merely advising fellow officers that they could file a grievance with a dispatcher’s supervisor if they feared for their safety.

Concerns about explicit bias on officers’ socialmedia accounts were renewed after a summer of protests demanding an end to racial injustice in policing and the violent U.S. Capitol siege in January.

Dozens of group members fueled days of transphobic posts about former Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine for her role in statewide socialdistancing mandates to stop the spread of COVID-19. Levine, who is transgender, has since been tapped by Biden to be assistant health secretary. “Someone needs to shoot this thing!!” one retired officer wrote.