A Philadelphia Fire Department paramedic is under fire for posting this picture with the caption: “Our real enemy.” The caption also said “Need 2 stop pointing guns at each other & at the ones that’s legally killing innocents.” Marcell Salters has also published highly antagonistic language toward police officers. He has since apologized but some have called for his punishment or termination. In the meantime, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is under attack after Ismaaiyl Brinsley effectively executed two police officers over his anger with the recent decisions by grand juries in Missouri and New York. police have been protesting what they view as de Blasio’s unfair portrayals of police after the decision, including turning their backs on the mayor when he came to give a press conference on the murders.
Salters
Marcell Salters has been denounced for his attack on officers who often protect paramedics at accident and crime scenes. In now deleted comments, Salters said that he “never did or will like police” and “[b]ecause of what i do i have to work with them but dont have to like them . . . There are numerous crooked & corrupted cops (mostly white) & mostly they harass, beat, or kill innocents (mostly blks).”
He has since apologized and posted the following: “I would like to deeply apologize to anyone i have offended. That post was out of anger of what is going on around the world (mike brown, eric garner & etc) & past experiences that i have had with the police. . . My intentions was not to slander or hurt anyone or my brothers in blue. Again i am sorry.”
I have previously written about concerns that public employees are increasingly being disciplined for actions in their private lives or views or associations outside of work. We have previously seen teachers (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here), here, here, students (here and here) and other public employees (here and here and here) fired for their private speech or conduct, including school employees fired for posing in magazines (here), appearing on television shows in bikinis (here), or having a career in the adult entertainment industry (here).
One different wrinkle is that Joseph Schulle, head of the firefighters’ union Local 22, said that Salters could be disciplined because he allegedly made a comment about the post while on duty. That creates a different context than many of the prior cases above where comments or postings were made entirely during off-hours or outside of public jobs. It is not clear what the comment was that is being isolated as a possible basis for discipline however.
I tend to view these cases from a first amendment perspective. I find Salters’ comments to be highly offensive and wrong. However, I do believe that he has a right to say them just as others have a right to denounced them. While such comments obviously make for tense working conditions, some of us believe that free speech requires bright-line rules of protection even for hateful speech like that of Marcell Salters.
The uproar of police in Philadelphia has joined an equal if not greater outcry of officers in New York.
Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, the killer of officers Wenjian Liu, 32, and Rafael Ramos, 40, had a history of violence and mental instability. He shot the officers as they sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn on Saturday before he ran to a subway station and shot himself. Only hours earlier, he shot and wounded his 29-year-old ex-girlfriend, Shaneka Thompson, at her home in Baltimore, Maryland. After shooting Thompson, Brinsley threatened on Instagram to kill police officers while referencing the New York and Missouri grand jury decisions: “They Take 1 of Ours… Let’s Take 2 of Theirs #ShootThePolice #RIPEricGarner #RIPMike Brown. This May Be My Final Post.”
Before the murders, Brinsley reportedly struck up a conversation with two men. According to the police, he asked the men “for their gang affiliation; he asked them to follow him on Instagram; and then he says: ‘Watch what I’m going to do.'” That is when he walked past the patrol car, circled it and then crossed the street to come up behind the car. That is when he fired four bullets through the front passenger window, killing the officers.
Police directed their anger in part at de Blasio who has been viewed as supporting the protests against police after the decision of the New York grand jury. The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association even went as far as having officers to sign a petition calling for Mr de Blasio to be barred from attending their funerals if they were killed in the line of duty. There is also a growing racial rift over de Blasio’s policies. A poll last week found seventy percent of black people approved of the mayor’s performance while only 32 percent of white people supported him. Yet, he had received good polling numbers over his handling of protests following the decisions in New York and Missouri.
The real question is who’s in charge of America’s justice system? After the juvenile protest by NYC police, who blamed the mayor for the shooting of two police officers, it’s pretty clear how far down the road to a police state we’ve come. Bailers is absolutely correct about the “either you’re for them or you’re against them” illogic that’s being spouted.
Before this thread gets contentious, if it does, first I want to say to those who refer to Professor Turley as a “liberal” in the today sense of the word…whatever that has been diluted in to now. I find Professor Turley to be more like me in his opinions than opposing mine. And I am a “conservative in my opinion. I am able, however, to listen to those who speak clearly and even change my mind.
Next, I fault Mayor De Blasio for NOT taking the opportunity of a bully pulpit to condemn specifically the “dead cops” chants of a mob a day or so before the recent tragedy. He had a chance to make a difference and chose to stay silent on specifics. Silence is too often perceived as approval. I do hope that NYC won’t be seriously damaged by that leopard that won’t change his spots…because he can’t.
Of course all cops are hero’s and all victims of cop violence are asking for it and are criminal thugs!
We all have the right to protest and speak out against anyone or anything we object to. At least we used to. Even cops objecting to protests against police. Two senseless killings added to the list. Sad.
I guess when a mentally disturbed white guy kills children in a school with a gun, it is just a mentally ill guy, but, hey, don’t touch my guns! When two policemen are killed by a mentally disturbed black guy with a gun, he is an example that the police should be at war with every black person. Scary and sad.
Finally, The inner city was created by Democratic pols? Wow.
rafflaw – yes, the inner city was crafted and kept in place by Democratic politics. If blacks move out of the inner city and assimilate, then the Democrats lose their voting base.
“Nick Spinelli
Police KNEW the consequences of de Blasio’s contempt for police and 2 days later the consequences happened.
————————
Nick, anyone who doesn’t give complete and unconditional support to police is anti-cop these days. ESPECIALLY from the perspective of the union. So I ask, how can police be given effective oversight from a public policy perspective if every single question or criticism is met with “anti-cop” or charges that the person wants dead cops? That’s where we are today. This is exactly the complaint that Republicans have had for years about cries of racism. Now its been flipped to police.
Police are using such incendiary language now people will die. And I don’t mean cops. Police officers that are being terrorized by their own unions and rhetoric are going to shoot innocents when cell phones, cigarette packs, or just simple sticking hands in pockets (it is winter in NY remember) is mistaken for going for a gun. Here’s some of the language:
“It’s f–king open season on us right now,” (No, it was one shooting. Tragic, but hardly open season)
“That blood . . . starts on the steps of City Hall, in the Office of the Mayor,” (wonder what the reaction from police will be if some crazy person takes a shot at de Blasio?)
” I’m not surprised these two police officers have been assassinated as a direct result of de Blasio’s comments. (Huh. I thought the two officers were killed as a direct result of the shooter’s actions. I guess even in Baltimore the Mayor can control actions of otherwise rational people)
And here’s an email going around that shows the mentality of NYPD police. Keep in mind, this was a crazy guy from Baltimore that killed the two police officers.
“At least two units are to respond to EVERY call, no matter the condition or severity, no matter what type of job is pending, or what the opinion of the patrol supervisor happens to be…IN ADDITION: Absolutely NO enforcement action in the form of arrests and or summonses is to be taken unless absolutely necessary and an individual MUST be placed under arrest, These are precautions that were taken in the 1970s when police officers were ambushed and executed on a regular basis. We have, for the first time in a number of years, become a ‘wartime’ Police Department. We will act accordingly. ”
People are going to die. Will Police accept any of the blame when their words backfire on them?
DeBlasio should be fired for the same reason.
“Marcell Salters ….In now deleted comments, Salters said that he “never did or will like police” and “[b]ecause of what i do i have to work with them but dont have to like them . . .”
Sure, I suppose can see the free speech aspect here.
And the police and his fellow EMTs/paramedics are free to shun him and denounce him.
But that makes it impossible for him to be an effective paramedic, so he should be fired for interfering with the team.
And actively advocating killing cops is in my view not protected speech.
It is incitement to kill and riot.
So he should be fired for that, too.
“Ismaaiyl Brinsley…..had a history of violence and mental instability.”
Let me fix this for you. “Ismiaaiyl Brinsley had fifteen prior arrests and was a Muslim convert who loved the Koran, specifically Surah 8 posted on his own Facebook page, which calls for arming for preparation for Jihad war.
Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom Allah doth know. Whatever ye shall spend in the cause of Allah, shall be repaid unto you, and ye shall not be treated unjustly
It is CRIMINAL profiling, something cops are supposed to do. PC has no place in law enforcement.
When outrages like the spate of police killings of citizens continue, without any corrective action from the legal system, the rage of the people will not adhere to due process, will be chaotic and will likely first come from despicable characters like Ismaaiyl Brinsley.
This is not new in history, and is how populations pushback and respond when it perceived that the orthodoxy in power will not correct its own violence upon the people, those at the fringes of society are the first to respond.
It is tragic, but predictable, and is what happens when law enforcement quality control gets sloppy, and then that gets double-downed by the very same system with questionable returns of “No Bill” from grand juries.
I think Nick is absolutely correct most cops are professional and a credit to the uniform. However the cops didn’t know squat this double homicide would happen. Being a cop is no doubt a dangerous job. But its the videos showing unarmed Americans killed by police on a more regular basis that is more likely the cause of this type of retribution by the mentally unstable.
And the attacks on a mayor trying to defuse years of racial profiling (increased greatly by a prior mayor who killed more cops and firemen on 9/11 due to arrogance and the need for publicity then the next 10 mayors will see die) are unwarranted.
If people/cops want to stop complaints about profiling then policies should be out in place to stop profiling. It is that simple
Ken, You have a generation of men in inner cities raised w/o fathers. One of the many consequences of that is that boys raised w/o fathers have SERIOUS issues w/ grown men. I coached a little league baseball team in KC. I learned quickly that before having these kids listen to my instructions, I needed to prove myself to them. After that, I had a relationship w/ them. A cop doesn’t have that opportunity. Males told to put their hands up and lay on the ground “buck up” and do not comply. That is a fundamental problem that plays out thousands of times every day, in neighborhoods most everyone here never set foot it.
But Eric Garner is a nice guy. Garner, 43, had history of more than 30 arrests dating back to 1980, on charges including assault and grand larceny.
You would think Garner would know how to comply with police. But there he was in the video, shooting his mouth off and swing his big arms and body wildly. Brinsley and Garner are defective garbage cans.
Isaac likes to do “the one size fits all” when it come to a thug cop killer. Hell, Isaac has already diagnosed the killer. But, he is MORE THAN HAPPY to paint cops w/ the same brush.
The only way black people in the US are going to get any satisfaction over such things as the Brown & Garner killings is by actions such as Brinsley’s.
I very much doubt that such shootings will become a trend justifying fear among US police. However it is no bad thing that hey will overestimate the likelyhood of a repeat just as the US population greatly overestimates the likelyhood of another mass casualty terror attack from Al Quaeda.
Paul, If I were the police, I would strike. Let ALL see what the inner city, created by Dem pols, is like w/o them!!
The police union circulated the petition about de Blasio not attending police funerals BEFORE the assassination of 2 minority police officers. Police KNEW the consequences of de Blasio’s contempt for police and 2 days later the consequences happened. Two cops, on a standing post to deal w/ crime from a Brooklyn housing project, gunned down. A tearful resident of those projects said he and others found comfort from that post being manned, walking by those cops when they walked their kids to school.
This forum has a continuing series of posts about police misconduct. As I say, few know cops better than I. I have worked w/ them for 4 decades now. I know their faults and I know their strengths. While their faults SHOULD NOT be overlooked, they should not be paint all the vast majority of good, decent cops. NYC police have long had a police force “that looks like the community.” So, that is not the issue as it is in many places. The ilk of pols like de Blasio are really blaming police for problems that fall ON THEM. They have run big cities since the days of LBJ. Virtually ALL big cities are run by liberal Dems. The fault also lies w/ racial hucksters like Al Sharpton, who prey upon their own people.
This thread will probably get nasty. We have a good number of cop haters here. They come out every time JT posts a cop misconduct story. Well haters, this post is NOT ABOUT MISCONDUCT!
de Blasio started all this when he came out against profiling. As you can see, crime is up and he is no friend of the police. If I were the police, I would start refusing to be on his armed protection staff.
The killer had mental problems. This ‘one size fits all’ routine of explaining everything doesn’t help.
Should be terminated? Why? Agree or disagree – there is supposedly a first amendment for ALL Americans.
If the posting was done at work then maybe other considerations are in play. But as most Americans likely do a personal item or two at work be careful what personal item is next subject to termination.
Some of called for his termination??? His termination should be automatic.