Cops, like any other members of a high-stress profession, like to joke around about what happens at work. Many of these jokes would be considered crude or insensitive, perhaps even slanderous, by people who don't work as police officers. But as long as the public doesn't hear these jokes then the attitude of most administrators is no harm, no foul.
Unfortunately, such cop jokes are now being voiced in public. A generation ago, when cops wanted to blow off steam, they met some place private, had a few beers, and nobody outside the circle knew what was said or done.
Today's cops may still gather over a case of cold beer, but they also gather online using social networking tools such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. Which is a problem for agencies and officers because what many users of social networks don't realize before its too late is that anything they do or say or write on these sites is done so in full view of the public. Other officers may be aware that they are speaking in public, but they apparently don't care.
The Cromer Case
Perhaps the most widely known example of an officer coming to grief because of something that he or she wrote on a social networking site happened three years ago in Kentucky.
In 2006 Officer Joshua Cromer of the Lexington Police Department made a traffic stop. The driver was country singing star John Michael Montgomery who lives nearby. Cromer arrested Montgomery and the singer was later charged with driving under the influence, possessing a controlled drug, and two counts of carrying a concealed deadly weapon. Montgomery later pleaded out on the drunken-driving charge. That should have been the end of the matter.
Unfortunately for Cromer, that traffic stop was just the beginning of a long nightmare. The arrest became fodder for Cromer's MySpace page. Friends, mostly fellow cops, congratulated him on the bust and poked fun at Montgomery by posting a doctored photo that showed Cromer as an adoring fan.
Complaints about Cromer's site led to the brass checking out a number of their officers' MySpace pages. What they found made them really angry. There were comments about the department, comments about the people of Lexington, comments about gays, and comments about the mentally disabled. And a very brown and very smelly storm gathered over the heads of Cromer and several other Lexington PD officers.
Cromer was dismissed from the Lexington PD on grounds of misconduct, inefficiency, insubordination, and conduct unbecoming a police officer. He later sued for back pay and reinstatement. He lost. As for the other members of Cromer's MySpace circle of friends, five of them were suspended. They were later allowed to return to duty.
Chief Concerns
The Cromer case is a clear example of an employer's ability to monitor an employee's online social network activity even away from the job. It also illustrates the power that an agency has over its officers' ability to exercise free speech.
For law enforcement officers, other public officials, and even private employees, caution should be the byword when posting material on a social networking site. And make no mistake, many agencies are monitoring what their officers do online.
These agencies know there is a potential for an employee's Website comment to become instrumental in a civil or even criminal case. Defense attorneys and civil rights attorneys are monitoring what you write on your private pages the same way that police investigators monitor the sites of criminals. So use your brain. If you don't want your comments read in public, don't post them in public.
And whatever you do, don't maintain your Facebook page on the job. An Indiana State Trooper found himself under investigation for his online activity both off and on the job.
A born multitasker, this trooper allegedly bragged about his heavy drinking, posted a picture of his cruiser with collision damage and the caption "Oops! Where did my front end go?" and uploaded an image of a gun being pointed at his head. On the same Facebook page, he reportedly characterized himself as a "garbage man," saying, "I pick up trash for a living." Statements reflecting dissatisfaction with weather and working conditions were also allegedly posted during times that the trooper was supposed to be at work.
When a TV news report revealed the evidence to state patrol brass, they launched an internal investigation. At presstime, the findings of that inquiry have not been released.