According to a new report, officers in California allegedly used their work phones to share racist and sexist posts on Instagram.
The Los Angeles Times reported that an investigation into the social media posts was carried out, and, following the investigation, nine current and former police officers with the Oakland Police Department were placed on unpaid leave.
According to KTVU, a 23-page report was delivered to a federal court on Monday from Clarence, Dyer & Cohen LLP detailing the internal investigation. Oaklandside first posted about the existence of the Instagram page and investigation in January of 2021.
The Los Angeles Times on Sept. 20 reported that seven current officers, including a lieutenant, were “suspended for up to 25 days without pay” following the investigation of an Instagram account. The account allegedly belonged to a police officer who was fired in 2020. Two other of the police officers in question have since moved jurisdictions. The department reportedly notified those jurisdictions about the investigation’s findings.
A former Oakland police officer, reportedly fired in 2020 for “other misconduct,” allegedly created the now-defunct Instagram account containing “deeply offensive content” called “crimereductionteam.” The account featured “memes and images that joked about police brutality, rape and undermining constitutional policing reforms,” per Los Angeles Times.
“Sexist and racist behaviors are far too prevalent in our culture and have no place in our public safety institutions,” Mayor Libby Schaaf said in a statement, per the Los Angeles Times. “I wholeheartedly and strongly condemn any behavior, including online communications, that supports or engages with sexist or racist tropes.”
According to Oaklandside, the internal investigation came after the website “identified a few current and former OPD officers” who interacted with other social media posts belonging to former Oakland officer Jurell Snyder, who admitted to being present during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. Snyder, who last worked for the Oakland Police Department in 2015, reportedly defended the Capitol insurrection and touted conspiracy theories. He, according to Oaklandside, shared “memes linked to the extremist ‘boogaloo’ movement, which advocates for violent civil war.”
Oaklandside reported that Snyder fatally shot two people, one Black person and one Latino person, while he was working as an Oakland police officer in 2007 and 2013.
The Daily Dot has reached out to the Oakland Police Department for comment.
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