Florida police disciplined over MySpace
Officers disciplined for MySpace postings:
More Florida police in hot water over MySpace…
EDGEWATER — A group of city police officers under review for having postings on the popular MySpace.com social networking Web site will not lose their jobs.
However, they will face suspensions, letters of reprimand and a letter of counseling.
Edgewater Police Chief John Taves said Wednesday after talking with the officers and reviewing the pages, he has determined there was nothing “unethical, sexual or criminal” about the Web pages.
But pictures of the officers in uniform and of police equipment were a violation of the department policies.
The officers involved were John Conley, 24; Marci Kaltman, 36; Aaron Soltz, 27; Brian Mallard, 30; Kristen Kingston, 20; and Martha Miles, 36.
Taves declined to identify which officer got what punishment.
Taves said three of those employees will face three-days unpaid leave, two will be given letters of reprimand and be placed on probation for six months.
Taves said a picture apparently depicting an officer engaged in horseplay while on duty was shown on someone else’s Web site. That officer will receive a letter of counseling, Taves said.
Miles, a reserve officer, said earlier this week she did not have a Web page herself, but was pictured on someone else’s Web page.
Taves said he has not ordered the officers to remove their Web pages, but they must eliminate all images and references to the Edgewater Police Department from them. Any such representation requires the written permission of the police chief.
“Everyone is entitled to have Web sites,” he said. However, “we are in the process of looking at our policies and procedures to see what we can do about issues like this one.”
This goes for any public servant. Whatever you post online reflects the rest of your department.
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