Case & Policy Update

Volume 56 | November 16, 2022

Violation of SPD’s Social Media Policy

OPA recently released investigation findings concluding that an SPD officer negatively impacted the Department’s ability to serve the public by violating the professionalism policy, bias policy, and social media policy. In October 2021, a Twitter user posted a lengthy thread alleging that the author of various controversial tweets was an SPD officer posting under the moniker “Bruce Wayne.”

SPD’s Public Affairs Unit forwarded the thread to OPA, who opened an investigation. In his OPA interview, the SPD officer remorsefully admitted to posting the tweets. The officer’s tweets included, among others, taunting the family members of deceased individuals, publicly accusing SPD of hating its employees, apparently celebrating a homicide, and stating that George Floyd “got justice.” The tweets also contained comments derogatory to protected classes and discernable personal characteristics as defined in SPD Policy 5.140, including mental illness, political ideology, and veteran status. These tweets violated the bias-based policing policy.

OPA found that the officer’s tweets were extremely unprofessional and unacceptable. These posts may have led the public to question not only this officer’s judgement, but that of other SPD officers. The widespread viral sharing of these tweets eroded public trust. At the conclusion of his interview, when OPA asked the officer for any voluntary, final comments, he stated, “I’m terribly sorry.” Both the officer’s actions and admitted regret require accountability. OPA recommended sustained findings for all allegations in this case.

Do you have questions about your personal social media usage?

SPD employees are prohibited from making, sharing, or commenting in support of anything that negatively impacts the Department’s ability to serve the public. This can include:

• Anything that includes harassment or threats of violence
• Anything that ridicules, maligns, expresses bias, or disrespects any protected classes
• Anything that suggests Department personnel are engaged in unlawful or reckless behavior toward public safety
• Anything that would otherwise violate law or SPD policy

Also, do not post privileged information, represent the Department, or use your City email address to register for personal social media accounts.

Please see 5.125-POL-2 Employee Personal Use of Social Media for full details.

Past Social Media Cases

Past investigations concerning social media use have also received sustained findings from OPA. These include:

• 2018OPA-1064
• 2019OPA-0244
• 2019OPA-0264
• 2020OPA-0465
  
  

Is there a specific topic you would like to see covered in CPU? Please send your topic suggestions to opa@seattle.gov.

OPA also posts past issues on the Case & Policy Updates page.