TYNGSBORO, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) -- A Tyngsboro police officer came under fire recently after an officer's comments and likes on Facebook that some say are racist.
The comments were in response to the shooting of Boston Police Officer John Moynihan and now the Tyngsboro Police Department says they are reviewing their social media policy and also taking a look at all of their officers' online accounts. The chief calling it a teachable moment after a firestorm on Facebook.
The officer who posted the comments says he was "venting a little bit of frustration" when he posted comments on Facebook that allegedly criticized the protests that followed the shooting.
Lt. Shaun Wagner told FOX25 that he posted this on the social media site: "This is what Mass. police are dealing with right now after a cop was shot in the face by a thug, this isn't a race issue cut the [expletive] we aren't gonna stand by and put up with this for long."
"I don't know if it was misinterpreted," he said.
It was interpreted as racist by some when Lt. Wagner liked responses like this on Facebook: "[Expletive] them. They all hide behind the race card! If had it my way there would be a cleansing."
Wagner said, "I liked every comment on the page just kind of saying that they were in the conversation just for being in the conversation. I did not read all of them."
He went on to say, "Some of them could be construed in hindsight in that way but they were not my comments, I do not condone any of them."
But condone is how some saw it, and soon a complaint was filed.
The chief of the department said it was an "error in judgement yes, violation of policy no."
FOX25 asked the chief to detail the department's social media policy.
"To condone violence or condone racism or condone anything like that that would be obviously against the law or objectionable. It's absolutely 100 percent not tolerated by any police department, certainly not this department," the chief said.
Both an internal and external investigation found no violation of the social media policy, but Lt. Wagner was ordered to undergo social media counseling.
Cox Media Group
