Richmond officer resigns over racist photo

Rest of the story: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=6491599&rss=rss-kgo-article-6491599

So what do yall think? This story actually brings to mind England's Prince Harry when he dressed up as Hitler, was it? In Harry's case he was going to a bad taste costume party, IIRC. It was bad taste, yes, but then that was the theme of the party. With this guy in Richmond, AFAIK, it was just a regular costume party, which makes it even worse, right?

Opinions?

The guy was at a Halloween party....what business is it of anyone's?

I can see the PD having a problem if he did it in uniform or wearing his badge but he isn't.

If he was actually harassing some blacks or shit I'd see it...but this??

Now, now, Tamar. You know correct thought is mandatory.

Unfortunately, with some jobs, you're never really off-duty. You are always representing your employer. I would say, and Elwood if he's around can confirm or deny, that police officer is one of them. I would guess that they drill it into you that you are always to an extent a representative of the force.

As for what does it matter:

-It potentially hands a get-out-of-jail-free card to many of the minority suspects this guy has personally arrested in the past or might arrest in the future. Any case this guy is involved in, a defense attorney would get to introduce a photo of this guy sieg-heiling and hello, reasonable doubt.

-Keeping him on would likely increase tensions with the local minority communities, which you of course want to minimize to do the best law enforcement there. And from the story it sounds like there's plenty of history there.

-It establishes a zero-tolerance policy for racism.

These are important points. Especially in a place like Richmond, which doesn't exactly have the best history of racial harmony, a police officer can't really do his job if he's suspected of racism. I also suspect, because of the resignation, that there was a lot more in this guy's closet than one photo at a Halloween party. On it's own that photo might have resulted in a short paid leave while the matter was investigated followed by a period of modified duties until the whole thing blew over, but he probably wouldn't have been kicked off the force.

I was unaware there were "white" gestures.

Yeah it is a bummer that police officers don't have the same rights as everyone else. Sure you and I could dress up as a rock-star and attend a Halloween party but public servants? Oh heck no.

Did you read this bit?

Admittedly, the article was a tad sloppy so it's not certain if they are suing over this case. If not it lends misguided credence for this officer having to resign.

He wasn't asked to resign because he dressed up as a rock star.

He was asked to resign because he sieg-heiled with someone dressed up as a KKK member.

That's something that would cause some employers to shrug and say "Boys will be boys."

It's also something that would cause a lot of private and public employers to impose some form of discipline.

As Pardot points out, we don't know if he resigned over this incident alone or if there's a lot of other stuff on this guy's jacket that would force him off.

Do you dispute any of the other stuff I said about how it would likely cause him to be ineffective as an arresting officer and increase tensions with the minority community?

If so, on what grounds?

If not, why wouldn't that be enough reason to get rid of him?

I read it as they were independently suing the city.

They would have no grounds that I could see for suing over this guy siegheiling, and procedurally, it would be too soon for a lawsuit over this incident to be filed I think.

Here is a story from the San Jose Mercury News that makes clear that the suit filed by the black officers is independent of this most recent case.

Also, it seems to make clear that this guy wasn't himself a racist, just immature:

http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_10908663

Unfortunately for him, he's a rookie officer who likely could have been terminated for any reason or no reason. The best option for him was to resign.

You saw the photo? That's not enough to warrant a request to resign.

Of course that's my opinion, I can't speak for all employers private or public yet I can't help but think that if he were forced to resign he'd have a solid foundation for a wrongful termination lawsuit.

He wasn't asked to resign, period. He was put on paid leave while the matter was going to be investigated. The resignation was by all appearances voluntary, happening before the investigation even got started.

It is if it would be introduced in every single trial this guy was involved in (which it would almost certainly be) and if it would lead to guilty people getting set free (which it likely would).

Some juries might see it as just the officer being silly. But others would certainly doubt his explanation, even though it's the truth, and wrongly conclude he's racist. And others would see it as the truth, but conclude that he's got poor judgment and understand his testimony in that light.

Even putting aside the concrete effect this would have on his being able to do his job, there's the broader impact it has on the department.

As I said in my previous post, as a rookie officer, he likely can be discharged for any reason or no reason at all. So he would lose a wrongful termination lawsuit on its face.

Even if he had served out his probationary term, I think it would be hard to win given that he resigned.

I could see an argument that he saw the writing on the wall and/or was explicitly told "If we get this investigation going, that could mean X, Y and Z in bad consequences for you. But if you resign now, then A, B, C in good consequences happen."

But you're right that from what these stories say, he made as free a choice to resign as one could make.

Yes, better to get the injustice out of the way now, no point in waiting for some imagined, potential, legal injustice down the line.

No shit. OK, having heard the situation explained, I can see doing that in the same circumstances. If the other guy had been dressed as a Black Panther, I would've just as likely given the Black Panther salute. Or if he'd been dressed up as Malcolm McDowell from "A Clockwork Orange", maybe calling him a "droogie" or saying something about "ultraviolence".

This is political correctness run amok.

The notion of a white guy doing a black power salute takes it out of its context.

To be analagous, the officer would have to be black, doing a black power salute, and working for a department where there was a history of allegations of black officers behaving in a racist fashion toward white civilians and within the department itself. The photo would have to have the potential to create reasonable doubt that the officer was treating white suspects fairly.

It would be unfortunate that such an officer would likely feel pressure to resign, as in this case even if he did it as a joke. But I'm pretty sure he would feel that pressure.

Pretty much my attitude. It's a fucking Halloween party.I don't give a damn what his job is, people should have the right when they get off work to dress however they want. If you truly believe in freedom, then don't get outraged when people express views you don't like or dress up in outfits you find offensive.

Yeah, freedom of expression my ass...

In an unrelated but similar story, a New England Patriots cheerleader got shitcanned for posing with a passed out guy at a party that people had drawn on his face:

In another unrelated, but similar story (sure to warm the hearts of Tex, Ash and Flow):

Link to the blog, but there are plenty of news stories on this as well.

Well, shootER, he'd probably have been beaten to a bloody pulp by his teammates if he showed up at practice after word got out about his posting something like that on his Facebook page. It certainly would not have made for successful team chemistry.

What a douchebag. Someone needs to tell this moron that there are black republicans who run for office and we're proud to have them.

They drew the party on his face? Must have a big head.

Ya' think?

Didn't Prince Harry get caught at a party dressed as a Nazi Officer once

Some people are never 'off work' but represent their city, state, country 24/7.


Just as there are special privileges that come with the uniform, so are there responsibilities. One important one is to never do anything that could make your city/state/country look bad.

You're going to have to start coming to the meetings. I don't see how you've gotten this far without at least knowing the secret handshake.

Even if he's not actually a racist, this photo would look very bad for him in future arrests, trials, etc. So he'd then never really be able to do anything. If all of his arrests are called into question, the department would have no use for him, so resigning was really the best thing all around.

Sure it's not really fair that he had to leave his job, but I think as a police officer, you have to realize that this kind fo thing would be bad. Let's say he stayed in his job, down the line, he has to arrest a black guy. The defense attorney could bring up this photo and clain that he arrested the black guy because he was black and not because he had done something wrong. More times than not, the case is going to be thrown out and the department could then get sued for having a potentially racist officer on board.

This is nothing new, police racism is often used as a defense.

A case that could be tossed for a Halloween photo wasn't very strong to begin with. As for suing the department, a case based on a Halloween photo that had nothing to do with any illegality is equally weak.

Of course the case would have to be weak to use this photo, but the potential is still there. And sure being racist or using a racist gesture isn't illegal, but there's still the assumption that he's racist, whether he is or not, and the potential to be called on it, ie, making an arrest based on race, whether it's true or not.