Philadelphia Will Fire 13 Police Officers for Racist Facebook Posts

Thanks to the work of the advocacy group Plain View Project, which looks into the social media activity of police officers around the country, the Philadelphia PD is prepared to fire 13 officers, including one sergeant. WaPo has more:

In Philadelphia, the Plain View Project identified some 3,100 offensive or potentially offensive posts from 328 active-duty police officers. Of that number, the most offensive were placed on leave while a department-hired law firm probed the matter, Commissioner Richard Ross said at a news conference. In addition to the officers that will be dismissed, four others will be suspended for a month.

Commissioner Richard Ross said that the officers’ demonsrated that they “have little or no regard for their positions as police officers,” and said their posts “violate basic human decency.” Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney concurred, calling the posts “deeply disturbing.”

Among the content that Plain View found were posts referring to African Americans as “thugs,” calling for “death to Islam,” and using homophobic slurs.

While the head of the police union, John McNesby, defended his department and vowed to prepare a response, Ross admitted that the story “takes us back” in relations with the community.