Oakland police to ‘ root out’ officers who backed mob posts

Oakland police pledged to investigate allegations that officers have endorsed or “been involved” in social media accounts of Wednesday’s Capitol takeover.

“We will not tolerate any form of hate speech, any expression that supports hate speech or any acts of subversion, whether inperson or on online platforms,” the department said in a statement released Friday.

The department said it learned that “current employees may have been involved on social media accounts that contain objectionable or offensive content.”

“OPD will not allow any members to engage in or support this ... and will root out this conduct,” the statement said. “Hate speech will not be tolerated. ...

Whether on or off duty, employees of OPD are prohibited from affiliating with subversive groups.”

The police investigation follows accounts that former Oakland police Officer Jurell Snyder was part of the Capitol takeover mob and posted online about it. The website Oaklandside reported that several current officers

“liked” the posts.

In an interview he gave Wednesday evening on KPIX, Snyder defended the takeover, spouted rightwing conspiracy theories and suggested that police prodded Trump supporters at the Capitol to violence. According to his LinkedIn profile, Snyder served in the Oakland Police Department from December 2006 to August 2015.

“I wanted my friends and family to know what happened,” Snyder wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday, in which he confirmed that he was at the Capitol. “They call us terrorists in the media, but we know the truth. We must preserve our constitutional republic at all costs.”

In a statement posted Thursday afternoon on Facebook, the Oakland

Police Department said they found Snyder’s comments “reprehensible” and that he was “separated from his employment with the City of Oakland nearly six years ago.”