Photo via @crimereductionteam/Instagram
September 27, 2021, 10:36 am
Nine officers employed by the Oakland Police Department have been placed on unpaid leave after they were found to have used their work phones to post on social media about how funny police brutality and rape is, as well as workplace sexism and general racism.
Featured Video
Hide
The suspensions for conduct showing a complete lack of compassion and recognition of the humanity of the people they’re supposedly meant to protect range from three to 25 days following a months-long investigation into an Instagram account started by one cop who was actually fired.
Advertisement
Hide
Some of the jokes and memes captured by the public before the Instagram account was removed make cracks about cops lying to cover up police brutality, being unable to remember how many times one “punched a suspect in the face,” and drooling over new female recruits. Others reportedly made jokes about rape, which is particularly terrible for a department that has gained itself a reputation for “sexual misconduct” among officers up to and including the rape of a teen girl in 2003.
Other posts on the account @crimereductionteam made by former Oakland officer Jurell Snyder have expressed support for the Capitol rioters and pushed false conspiracy theories around the 2020 election, such as the kind that fueled the insurrection in the first place.
He has also posted content linked to the so-called “Boogaloo” movement, a loose collection of far-right individuals that advocates for actions that will push the U.S. into further chaos and eventual civil war. The department says it confiscated 140 work phones as part of its investigation into allegations that their officers were liking and commenting positively on the account.
The exposure of this Instagram and the minor punishment handed down to Oakland officers who cheered it on is not helping the department, or U.S. policing as a whole, with its reputation of being a corrupt institution staffed by people who hold contempt for the larger public.
Advertisement
Hide
Police throughout the nation continue to kill people, mostly of color, at a rate of around three per day — far outpacing similarly wealthy countries throughout the nation.
At the same time, the lack of consequences for those who are caught doing things that the rest of us would get fired for seems to have created a culture of cops believing themselves to be above the law.
Two of the nine officers who were given what sounds like a sanctioned vacation have already moved to different police departments — something that the vast majority of actually fired cops are appaarently able to do with ease no matter how badly they violate supposed department policy.
In response to the investigation’s results, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff released a statement condemning the officers’ online actions.
“Sexist and racist behaviors are far too prevalent in our culture and have no place in our public safety institutions,” she said. “I wholeheartedly and strongly condemn any behavior, including online communications, that supports or engages with sexist or racist tropes.”
*First Published: September 27, 2021, 10:36 am
0 Comments