The New Rochelle Police Department has issued new departmental Rules and Regulations for Social Media sites like Facebook and Twitter as well as blogs and online forums. The new policies come less than a year after a Talk of the Sound exposé on a XXX-Rated gambling web site run by current and former officers from the NRPD P.A.C.T. Unit. The department’s first ever Social Media policy went into effect on January 24, 2011. It explicitly states that as public employee, police officers do not have absolute First Amendment rights. Section 12.3 reads “As public employees, department members are cautioned that speech on-duty or off-duty, made pursuant to their official duties, is not protected speech under the First Amendment and may form the basis for disciplinary action if deemed detrimental to the department Department members should assume that their speech and related activity on social media sites will reflect upon their office and this department.”
The policy appears to be a direct response to reporting by Talk of the Sound in February 2010 about a “P.A.C.T. Fantasy Football League” or “PFFL”.
“Dozens of current and former New Rochelle police officers, primarily from the New Rochelle Police Department’s Police And Community Together Unit (P.A.C.T.) have for the past 12 years paid tens of thousands of dollars into a high-stakes fantasy football league with team names, team web sites and helmet decals that glorify a brutish, hard-drinking, gangster mentality among officers within the unit…Teams owned by New Rochelle police officers, including many high ranking officers, reference organized crime, vigilantism, police brutality, alcohol abuse, and a hostile misogynistic attitude towards women in a manner which raises serious questions about the fitness for duty of some NRPD officers and, more broadly, the leadership of New Rochelle Police Commissioner Patrick Carroll who has permitted the group to operate on his watch for over a decade.”
The department’s social media policy limits freedom expression of department members as private citizens on social media sites “to the degree that their speech does not impair working relationships of the department for which confidentiality are important, impede the performance of duties, impair discipline and harmony among coworkers, or negatively affect the public perception of the department”.
Under the new social media policy photographs like this recent photo from the Facebook Profile of NRPD employee Melissa Monik may be banned. NRPD employees may not “post, transmit, reproduce, and or disseminate information (text, pictures, video, audio, etc.) to the internet or any other forum (public or private) that would tend to discredit or reflect unfavorably upon the department or any of the department’s employees.” They are prohibited from communicating any information to which they have access as a result of their employment without written permission from the Police Commissioner. They may not post information pertaining to any other member of the department without their permission and may note “display department logos, uniforms, or similar identifying items on personal web pages; post personal photographs or provide similar means of personal recognition that may cause them to be identified as a police officer of the department”.
Violation of the social media policy may result in disciplinary action.
The policy states that the such “prohibited speech” may serve as grounds for “undermining or impeaching an officer’s testimony in criminal proceedings” and warns that the department may be monitoring employee speech at any time without prior notice.
NRPD Social Media General Order 120113.pdf
RELATED:
Download Page for XXX-Rated Tour of NRPD P.A.C.T. Unit Officers PFFL Web site
i think social media refers
i think social media refers to pages like facebook and myspace, not a fantasy football page
then don’t think
cause you would be wrong. Try reading the actual policy before commenting.
You would be correct in terms of what is typically meant by social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) but that is not what the policy is talking about. They are, in effect, using the term inaccurately but they are referencing the Internet and forums and Facebook — basically any online communication.
What you should be wondering about is why it took until 2011 to come up with a policy when the these services have existed for decades going back to Compuserve, Prodgy and so forth. The Harrison PD Facebook case was how many years ago? They should have put this in place a while ago.
As is pointed out in the policy document, the officers who make fools of themselves online will also be asked, at times, to testify in criminal cases. Not only will will the XXX-Porn-Gambling site be used to discredit their testimony but may even be used to retry old cases. It would be difficult to overstate how dumb those involved with the PFFL site are or were.
your so right bob!
your so right bob!