RICHMOND, Ky. -- In a time when a single keystroke or click of a mouse can send information to just about everyone in the world, the city's police department has decided to crack down on how its employees can use the Internet.
"During a review of our policies, we recognized that our ethical computer usage policy needed to be rewritten and updated to keep up with the ongoing changes in technology," said Larry Brock, chief of Richmond Police."The social networking and Internet postings policy was developed in response to several incidents that have occurred throughout the country involving inappropriate postings by law enforcement officers and other employees."
One recent example involves Stephen D. Rankin, a Portsmouth, Va., officer who fatally shot a drunk and unarmed man, according to the Virginian Pilot. After the incident, numerous posts, including one that portrayed an image of a man being lynched, with the words "Love is ... doing whatever is necessary," were found on the officer's Facebook page that generated a lot of controversy about Rankin and whether the shooting could have been prevented.
No specific occurrences of Internet postings causing controversy have happened within the RPD, Brock said, but the department wanted to have policies in place to prevent them.
According to the new rules, which were approved Tuesday by the Richmond City Commission and are now in force, the Internet and other means of electronic communication should not be used in a way that would be "detrimental to" or "bring descredit" to the police agency.
Department employees are prohibited from posting anything that is related to the police department or any of its investigations, or that could lead to someone identifying the employee as being associated with the agency.
They also may not post any sexually graphic material, or anything that promotes violence or weaponry.
Employees who are suspected of violating the policy will be required to provide all passwords to investigators, and can be punished, including being fired.
Brock said the RPD command staff spent about eight months working to develop the policy, drawing from many different sources.
"I think that we have put together good, common sense policies that provide clear guidance to our employees," he said. "We wanted to be proactive with our directives rather than reactive in an effort to avoid any potential problems down the road."
Kelly McKinney can be reached at [email protected] or 624-6694.
Copyright 2011 - Richmond Register, Ky.
