A federal judge ruled that the Philadelphia Police Department was within its right to fire and discipline 20 officers after a database revealed in 2019 that they posted racist or offensive comments on Facebook. A part of the judge’s decision was to look at whether the posts were protected under the First Amendment. NBC10’s Claudia Vargas has the details and what this means.
A federal judge has ruled that the Philadelphia Police Department was within its right to fire and discipline 20 officers.
This decision comes after years of arbitration and litigation after a case that began in 2019 when it came to light that Philly police officers had posted racist or offensive comments on their personal Facebook accounts.
A public database that looks at social media posts of current and former police officers, Plain View Project, published hundreds of posts by Philly officers.
Protests followed calling for mass resignations and at the time of the 20 officers included in the case, more than a dozen were fired, others were disciplined and some resigned on their own.
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Those officers sued the city in federal court claiming first amendment retaliation.
As part of the decision, U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone looked at whether the officers’ speech was protected by the First Amendment. Beetlestone looked three things: that they spoke “as private citizens,” on “a matter of public concern,” and that the employee and the public’s collective interest in the employee’s speech outweighs the government’s interest in avoiding disruption to its operations that could be or was caused by that speech.”
On Monday, October 28, 2024, Beetlestone ruled that the officers’ posts were not protected by the First Amendment and were likely to cause interference with PPD operations.
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Some of the officers involved were reinstated through arbitration. It is not clear how many of them are still working for the PPD and what this decision would mean.
NBC10 reached out to the city of Philadelphia and the officers’ lawyers for comment but have not heard back.
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