One group representing police officers in Florida was reportedly openly recruiting dozens of “bad apple” cops who have been exposed for racist or brutal — or a combination of both — actions that got them disciplined with their departments. The Brevard County Fraternal Order of Police used no uncertain terms in a now-deleted Facebook post encouraging these shamed officers to come down to the Sunshine State to apparently engage in the behavior that got them in trouble without any fear of repercussions.
At least, that was the sentiment conveyed when it listed in multiple posts the incentives to becoming a police officer in Brevard County, located on Florida’s eastern shore with cities that include Melbourne and Cape Canaveral. The person who posted it is now apologizing for recruiting tactic made “in poor taste” but did not rescind the offer.
Screenshots of the Facebook posts were tweeted on Monday and exposed the Brevard County Fraternal Order of Police apparent embrace of police officers who literally applaud police brutality.
Bert Gamin, president of the Brevard chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, took to Facebook to invite the 57 Buffalo police officers who resigned after two of their colleagues were arrested for violently shoving a 75-year-old man who fell and hit his head so hard on the ground he was bleeding from it.
https://twitter.com/atDavidHoffman/status/1270346575060119552?s=20
Video of those same 57 officers showed them clapping as the guilty cops were released from jail.
Gamin in the same Facebook post extended the same invitation to the “Atlanta 6,” a reference to the six cops who were booked last week on felony charges of excessive force after a viral video showed them breaking the windows of a car containing two HBCU students. The woman, a student at Spelman College, was pulled violently out of the car and the man, a student at Morehouse College, was Tasered. They were returning from getting food when they were stuck in traffic caused by protests over the police killing of George Floyd. That’s when the six cops approached them.
After it was reported that the Minneapolis City Council had voted to defund the city’s police department, Gamin added in a second post to “Minneapolis Officers” that “WE WILL NOT disband our LE agencies or give in,” he wrote using an abbreviation for law enforcement.
Both posts listed reasons Gamin implied would sweeten the deal if any of the disgraced cops joined the force down in Brevard County: “Lower taxes, no spineless leadership, or dumb mayors,” he wrote in part before ending it with, “we got your back!” The posts were accompanied by a hashtag, #lawandorderFlorida.”
Democratic strategist Travis Askers tweeted screenshots of the Facebook posts that he described as “advertising fr racist police officers.”
https://twitter.com/travisakers/status/1269997937133838337?s=20
On Monday, Gamin was signing a different song, according to Florida Today.
“This weekend, I made a posting on social media which was in poor taste and did not reflect the sentiment that I was trying to convey, nor that of the FOP,” Gamin, president of FOP lodge #37, said. “For that, I humbly apologize to all of you.”
But does the offer still stand to those disgraced officers who applaud and embrace police brutality? Gamin left that part out.
This is America.
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