An investigation without end
None of us wants to be judged on the basis of our dumbest Facebook posts or most foolish tweets on Twitter — and that includes public employees, who should not be defined solely by their worst moments. Even police officers.
However, employers looking into officers accused of misconduct need to balance fairness to an employee with the safety and concern of the public at large. We bring this up, of course, because it has been six months since the Santa Fe Police Department began an internal investigation into the Facebook posts of Sgt. Troy Baker, who has 22 years with the department.
Baker came under fire because of various ill-advised posts about Muslims, African-Americans, women, transgender individuals and undocumented immigrants. With the department lacking a social media policy, Baker’s status was fuzzy after his ill-advised posts were uncovered by the Santa Fe Reporter. The posts prompted an internal investigation into whether they constituted conduct “unbecoming to an officer” — six months later, citizens are still waiting for the results.
His continued employment status became newsworthy again because of one particular post. At one point, Baker had put up an image headlined “All lives spatter” to warn protesters to keep out of roads. The image displayed a vehicle running into a stick figure with the further comment, “nobody cares about your protest.” In Santa Fe, everybody cares about protests. They are almost a way of life, and our police force has done well in maintaining order without violence. Baker’s attitude, as displayed by what he chose to post, is hardly reassuring to the many concerned citizens who take democracy seriously enough to march and rally.
That’s especially true now, considering that in last weekend’s protests in Charlottesville, Va., a counterprotester standing up against white supremacists was killed by a driver seemingly intent on using his car to cause damage. Given that Heather Heyer died exercising her constitutional rights, posts such as Baker’s seem particularly callous.
Former City Councilor Patti Bushee raised questions about Baker’s continued employment status, fittingly enough, in a Facebook post. She said she would likely not attend the Rally Against Racism on the Plaza, in part because of her concerns about Baker still being on the job. Concern from the community prompted police Chief Patrick Gallagher to inquire about the progress of Baker’s internal investigation. That, in turn, led Gallagher to discover new information, causing the chief to put Baker on desk duty, an assignment that likely will continue until the investigation is complete.
We understand the chief ’s concerns that no investigation be rushed. However, when a cop shows himself to be insensitive in such a public manner, city officials must move faster. Six months is a long time — too long.
The investigation against Baker — results promised in a few weeks — offers a good case study for the future, however. First, are the right policies now in place so that officers can be disciplined for showing crass insensitivity to the people they swear to serve and protect? Social media policy was established; it must be strong enough to weed out bad actors. Other questions: Is 180 days too long a period for the initial inquiry? Perhaps a shorter span — 90 days with possibility of extensions — would mean internal probes aren’t dragged out.
For what is seemingly a straightforward issue — are Baker’s Facebook posts unbecoming to an officer? — this case has stretched on. And on. Let’s end it soon.