SEATTLE — Seattle police chief Kathleen O’Toole said Tuesday she is making changes in how the department handles social media after launching an investigation into an officer who posted racially-charged comments on Facebook.
“There’s no place for racial bias in policing,” O’Toole said “I’ve been a champion for civil rights my entire career so I certainly won’t tolerate it.”
O’Toole is creating a new social media policy for officers.
It’s been in the works since last summer after an officer posted comments in support of Ferguson, Missouri, police Officer Darren Wilson.
The importance of putting itthe policy in place surfaced again when posts by Officer Cynthia Whitlatch surfaced that include statements like, “I am tired of black people’s paranoia that white people are out to get them.”
“How do you characterize those Facebook comments?” KIRO 7 asked.
“Well, I was very disturbed by them,” O’Toole said, “but the officer is entitled to tell her side of the story when she comes in over the course of the investigation and I certainly don’t want to do anything to jeopardize the disciplinary process.”
Brian Davis filed a complaint in August with the Office of Professional Accountability when he saw those posts.
The new policy, O'Toole said, will flag posts that might damage an officer's ability to serve, put him or her at risk, or harm the reputation of the department and its community relations.
Whitlatch is also under review for her arrest of 69-year-old William Wingate, as he used his golf club as a cane at 12th Avenue and Pike Street.
She accused him of swinging it at her, though her cruiser's dashcam video never shows it.
“I’m a black man walking down the street doing nothing,” Wingate told KIRO 7, “and I got stopped and sent to jail by a white police officer. That's all I can say. I guess you can add that up yourself.”
SPD apologized in September but took months to connect the incidents and pull Whitlatch off patrol.
O’Toole pointed to systemic failure: she was unaware of the Facebook complaint with OPA and OPA was unaware of SPD's apology.
“We were going along two parallel tracks,” she said.
O’Toole said a dramatic overhaul is in the works, which she describes as an “early identification system” that will catch patterns of behavior.
“All complaints, whether they're made to the police department or they're made to OPA, will go into one system and it will trigger early warnings,” she said.
O’Toole would not comment on recent allegations that Whitlatch stole marijuana from a police evidence room, which is part of both an internal and FBI investigation.
She said she is reviewing a draft of the social media policy on Thursday.
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