FULTON – Today, May 30, a Fulton police officer has been put on leave pending an investigation into a social media post she made last night.
The police officer, Hunter Beckwith, had posted “Black lives only matter to black people unless they’re killed by a white person.”
“We are aware of a situation regarding a social media post by a member of the Fulton PD. An investigation is underway and the officer has been put on leave pending the results of the investigation,” Mayor Deana Michaels said. “We take this matter very seriously and expect to have the investigation complete in the coming days.”
According to the Fulton Police Desk Officer, the police are only authorized to say they are aware of it and it is under investigation at this time.
More details to come as they are made available.
*Edit – It is believed the post was originally an Instagram story, but a screenshot was shared to Facebook.
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She should be FIRED!!!!!
Her job is dealing with PEOPLE. All people. She should ABSOLUTELY BE FIRED.
Not only was Officer Hunter Beckwith’s racial post a poor choice of words. It also demonstrates her thought process. She’s a policewoman; a person of authority. I hope she makes better decisions when on duty. Her post is especially bad given the current nation wide unrest precipitated by the unjust action of the Minneapolis policeman that caused the death of a black man. I applaud Mayor Deanna Michaels for her stand.
No ,I see it as a phrase, not a thread, and the icons are not violent, let her keep her job.
“The majority of the victims of homicide in Chicago are young, black men.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-chicago-homicides-data-tracker-htmlstory.html
1. Social media accounts get hacked regularly
It’s doesn’t even make sense:
It should be “when” not “unless”.
Or keep the “unless” and change “only” to “don’t”.
She should be hit with mega fines and fired for bad grammar…
…and, of course, for the total racial insensitivity and the use of the “Pepe the Frog” White Supremacism reference.
I wonder what sort of malfeasance this officer engaged in previously? I suspect lots of malfeasance.
Free speech comes first. Why fire her for being honest?
Like everything this is pretty open for interpretation. People will interpret it to make themselves feel better. Does it mean that we don’t see riots and burning down of innocent businesses when drug deals kill each other? or does it mean something else? Freedom of speech only seems to exist in this country now if you are a privileged few and don’t provide a valid opposite opinion.
As much as I might disagree with it. It is his right to say it. It’s called free speech.
1) We all have a right to free speech, however, we need to understand there are ramifications to that speech that could effect our employment and other areas of our life.
2) I continue to be dumdfounded by the things that people post on social media platforms. Once it’s out there there’s no taking it back and again, there are ramifications. Unless you’re retired and have nothing to lose, maybe avoid controversial subjects, or post in a way that’s thoughtful about the subject, rather than posting some stupid meme.
3) I highly doubt the officer will be fired. In the City of Fulton, hiring, firing and discipline of police officers and fire fighters are handled by the fire and police commission, whose 5 members are appointed by the mayor. At least this was the case, unless there has been some change in the past few years that I’m unaware of. Civil service employees can be suspended for 30 days without pay, at which point they are restored to the payroll pending the outcome of the disciplinary procedure. The whole situation could be resolved very quickly if the commission and the employee and union representation agree on a settlement, if there is no settlement it could drag on for years, with the final decision being made through binding arbitration. Unless the employee is fired, which we would hear about, we will not know the outcome as personnel matters are confidential. In my opinion, this officer will not be fired based on this one incident, although there will most likely be some discipline handed down.
4) The Mayor and city council would have no formal involvement in the disciplinary procedure. When i was on the City Council over 10 years ago we had a police officer suspended due to a DWI, he was eventually returned to duty and to this day I have no idea what discipline was actually handed down.
5) Does the city have a social media policy for its employees? i would be curious to know. If not, they should have one.
She spoke the truth and should not be fired for honesty.
She has the right to free speech and told the truth .