OPD revises social-media policy
Move comes after citizens’ board dispute over racial comments
Orlando police officers can now face termination for violating the department’s social media policy, following an officer’s controversial Facebook posts that prompted frustration among the agency’s civilian oversight board.
Police Chief John Mina announced the new policy at the citizens’ review board Wednesday, as the nine-member board decided to delay sending a letter to Mina with policy recommendations.
“If we have a case that warrants termination, they are now on notice that they could be terminated,” Mina told the board. “So I do want to tell you that before you sit at your meeting and draft your letter, that the policy is on the record.”
The rift between OPD and the Citizens’ Police Review Board stems from a dispute about the agency’s investigation of offensive Facebook comments by Officer Robert Schellhorn, in response to a post shared by Officer Shawn Dunlap.
The department’s new policy, approved July 3, 2018, prohibits officers from making, sharing or commenting “in support of any posting that includes harassment, threats of violence, or similar conduct.” Violations, the new policy states, “may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.”
Though department policy already prohibited obscene language or speech that expressed bias on social media platforms, it did not explicitly say officers had to refrain from engaging with offensive material in other ways, such as sharing and commenting on posts.
The review board plans to tell OPD it disagrees with the punishment the agency gave Schellhorn: an 80-hour suspension, for which he used accrued time off. The civilian panel instead wants Shellhorn — and other officers who express racial intolerance — to be fired.
The board also claims a separate citizen complaint against Dunlap was not properly investigated. Dunlap was used as a witness in Schellhorn’s internal affairs review, preventing the department from investigating him, OPD has told the board.
OPD spokeswoman Michelle Guido said the department did review Dunlap’s post and determined it was not in violation of policy, so he was called as a witness in Schellhorn’s investigation.
In an internal affairs report on Schellhorn’s conduct, Investigator Ricardo Agrait said Dunlap’s post “was a call to denounce violence directed towards police officers” and “did not contain vulgar or racist content.”
Schellhorn’s comments included calling athletes who kneel during the national anthem “overpaid thugs,” and calling Heather Heyer, the woman killed last year while protesting a white nationalist rally in Virginia, an “asshole killed by another asshole.”
Also Wednesday, the board approved the internal review of Sgt. Jose Pagan and Officers Michael Brown and Ryne Goode, after a citizen’s complaint about force used during an arrest on Aug. 19, 2017. The man arrested and the officers had different versions, and OPD internal affairs manager Dwain Rivers said none of the officers had body-worn cameras at the time.
Rivers said the agency did not have enough evidence to support the complaint, a conclusion some board members bemoaned.
“How can we look into whether or not it was excessive force if we don’t have the correct tools and evidence to look at to evaluate what you all did with internal investigations?” said member Caila Coleman.