At OPD, rotten acts give good cops bad name

Through the years, I’ve met many Orlando police officers. As a rule, they have been professional, passionate, true public servants.

I’ve even shared some of their stories here — about officers who tutor kids after school and others who play basketball with teens late at night.

So it was disturbing to read the comments of OPD Officer Robert Schellhorn, who got so angry in an online debate over NFL players kneeling during the national anthem that he called one person who defended the players a “f ***tard savage” and “libtard” who should go “f *** himself.”

Schellhorn also described the kneeling athletes as “useless savages” and referred to a peace activist who was murdered while protesting a Nazi rally in Virginia last year as an “asshole killed by another asshole.”

That’s not the kind of attitude I’ve seen with most officers. Yet it is somewhat reflective of vitriol I’ve noticed on the Orlando police union’s Facebook page — a place that is often dark and angry … at virtually anyone who isn’t a cop.

One post last year on the “Fraternal Order of Police Orlando Lodge #25” page said cops do their jobs so well that 99 percent of the public is “clueless;” that cops and criminals are the only ones paying attention. “Everyone else is just going somewhere, or shopping.”

Another post claimed: “People and the media go crazy when celebrities suddenly pass away ... Where is the recognition for our fallen heroes?”

Really? You’re claiming the media ignore fallen officers?

The Sentinel has written more than 190 pieces about the death of Lt. Debra Clayton alone — many on the front page.

The suggestion that the media ignore officers killed in the line of duty isn’t just disingenuous. It’s a lie.

The posts generally seem designed to foment anger. And they work. Schellhorn’s tirade was, in fact, prompted by another post by union leader Shawn Dunlap complaining that athletes and celebrities don’t care enough about fallen officers.

So, as I sat in the citizens review board meeting last week — watching volunteer members of that watchdog group express frustration with a department that doesn’t seem to want to clean up its messes — I realized something:

This a department with two sides. Two faces.

Most of OPD is precisely what I’ve seen in person: brave, committed, grateful servants.

But there’s another side that’s ugly. It’s smaller. But hardly anyone in power — politician or brass — has the interest in or courage to tame that ugly beast.

So it festers … and taints the rest of the force.

The view in union-land seems meant to convince officers that

no one likes them. Not the citizens. Not the media. The only people who like cops are other cops. And cops get killed and wrongly accused all the time. So we’d better stick together.

That approach may be good for drumming up dues, but it sure doesn’t do much for fostering healthy attitudes … or for the department’s image.

Keep in mind: Angry OPD officers have also led to violence.

We saw it once when an officer shoved a 19-year-old woman face first into the sidewalk breaking her teeth — and tried to charge her with a crime until the media exposed him. We saw it when an OPD officer who got so mad at an 84-year-old World War II veteran that he flipped the octogenarian upside down and broke his neck. OPD refused to even investigate the case. A civil jury, however, was appalled and forced taxpayers to cough up $880,000 for the abuse. And there are more recent excessive-force cases.

Yes, those cases were the exceptions … but there was scant condemnation from anyone at the city. Or the union. Or even any of those good officers. It all just seems to be: Let those angry guys do their thing. We don’t want to make waves.

Chief John Mina says the department cares about problems — as evidenced by the 80 hours in pay Schellhorn lost for calling the murdered peace protester an “a**hole” and a citizen a “f ***tard savage.”

And Wednesday, Mina swore to members of the citizens review board that he takes their concerns seriously and that their service makes a difference, prompting him to create a tougher social-media policy for the department. “Be proud of your work,” he told members. “Be thankful.”

Yet a few weeks earlier, when those volunteer board members weren’t around, Mina told union members he was “extremely disappointed in our citizens review board,” saying they try to overstep their role and vowing that, if he’s elected Orange County sheriff: “There will not be a citizens review board like there is at the city of Orlando.”

I asked Mina about the conflicting messages. He said he stood behind all of his statements; that the board has value but oversteps its boundaries and therefore he’d prefer a more informal board of advisers as sheriff.

Still, it seemed like Mina has one message for the citizens worried about angry cops and another message for the union group that stokes that anger.

Again, the two faces of OPD.

I still believe most Orlando cops are public servants who often perform heroic feats. But it’d be good if that majority spoke up to condemn some of the ugliness — whether it’s on Facebook rants or violent episodes that end in taxpayer settlements — so that ugliness doesn’t become the department’s public face.