Article prompts discussions about tightening social media rules,

Some local leaders say they were not surprised to learn that Pittsburgh-area police officers participated in a private Facebook page where racist and transphobic views were posted, and they conceded that efforts must be made to address the issue.

“I’m embarrassed, but not surprised it was our region that was highlighted in this piece,” Allegheny County Councilwoman Bethany Hallam said of an Associated Press story on Monday on the Facebook page called Pittsburgh Area Police Breakroom.

“These abhorrent and racist comments and viewpoints expressed in this so-called ‘break room’ mirror the reality that so many of our Black fellow community members experience on a daily basis: a racist system, from top to bottom — not excluding, but especially in regards to, policing and the criminal punishment system more broadly,” Ms. Hallam said.

Even a U. S. senator weighed in:

“The comments by dozens of members in this Facebook group, as reported by the AP, are offensive and disturbing,” Sen. Bob Casey, D- Pa., said in a statement his office issued Monday evening.

“The examples highlighted in the AP report exhibit racism and transphobia. The police departments employing these individuals should investigate and hold them accountable. The AP story demonstrates why we need substantial reform in policing,” Mr. Casey said.

Ms. Hallam has been among those pushing for such reform. She wants Allegheny County Council to create a county police review board, debate on which has been ongoing since 2018.

The goal of the board — like Pittsburgh’s Citizen Police Review Board — would be to conduct investigations after allegations of police misconduct.

“There needs to be thorough oversight of anyone who is walking around with a gun and a badge,” Ms. Hallam said in a post on her website.

Beth Pittinger, executive director of the Citizen Police Review Board, referred to the Pittsburgh Area Police Breakroom postings as “despicable.”

“If you were a Black Lives Matter protester and you read some of the stuff that those people wrote, would you feel safe if a police officer approached you? Probably not,” she said.

Some of the officials the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette contacted for comment on the AP story said they favored stricter social media policies for police as a way to combat such postings.

Last summer, the Pittsburgh police department reviewed its social media guidelines after a Zone 5 sergeant, George Kristoff, was placed on administrative leave following complaints that some of his Facebook posts targeted Black Lives Matter participants.

“They [ the city] did amend their social media policy, and it’s pretty clear that on- and off-duty behavior, especially on social media, will be dealt with from the perspective of their professionalism and their conduct,” Ms. Pittinger said.

The revised policy notes that officers may be punished for some online comments, particularly those that undermine trust.

The AP reported that many police departments in Allegheny County either don’t have social media policies or the ones that are in place are vague.

West Mifflin Mayor Chris Kelly said that since reading the AP article Monday morning, he had met with the solicitor and police chief about borough social media policies.

The AP article noted that a West Mifflin police officer said on the police breakroom Facebook page that an Allegheny County emergency dispatcher should be reported and fired for saying on her private Facebook page that the phrase “Blue Lives Matter” used by law enforcement is not equivalent to the slogan “Black Lives Matter.”

Stricter social media guidelines aren’t the only things people should be looking to as a fix, Ms. Pittinger said.

“I think that fundamentally, we have to come back to the [elected officials] in all these communities. The quality of policing in any community is directly the result of the elected in charge of that community,” she said. “So you’ve got the mayor, borough manager, city council — whatever it may be.

“Those are the people that hire and monitor the performance of public employees, including police officers. We can’t put all of this on the laps of police officers. You’ve got to look at the bosses and what kind of behavior are they tolerating?”

Indeed, in West Mifflin, Mr. Kelly said he had been in discussions with others concerning “statements attributed to our officers.”

“I certainly think that the opinions and sentiments expressed, as reported in that article, is a small percentage of officers that hold those beliefs and hold those biases,” Ms. Pittinger said. “The racism, misogyny and all of that stuff, it does not reflect the greater law enforcement community.

“But, the kind of comments we’ve heard are not conducive to trust. They’re not worthy of the public trust when you’re making those kinds of posts.”