What you post on the internet matters, it's not abstract. It reflects who you really are and what you really think. The NYPD and the FBI certainly thought this was the case
when they arrested 15 people for making threats against police officers online in December.
This man was arrested for an Instagram post six days ago.
They were arrested because the possibility that what they said online and how they might live offline is too dangerous to take a chance—at least for people posting threats against police officers. Apparently, though, the same logic is sometimes thrown out of the window for hate speech and threats made by police officers—as if what they say online exists in a make-believe world that in no way whatsoever reflects how they really feel about people.
Case in point, Detective Bobby Kinch of the Las Vegas police department. In 2013, Kinch, who has openly admitted and defended every word, took to his personal Facebook page to let the world know how he really felt. Including pictures of himself pointing his gun at plates with the face of President Obama, Kinch posted the following message, "Let’s just get this over! Race war, Civil, Revolution? Bring it! I’m about as fed up as a man (American, Christian, White, Heterosexual) can get!"
The acting sergeant suspended Kinch right? Or fired him? Was he jailed for making threats against the president? Nah. None of that. According to the Las Vegas Sun, Kinch's supervisor just asked him to delete the posts. The thing is, though, Kinch's fellow detectives, white and black, were so disturbed that they took their own screenshots and continued to press the case.
Please read below the fold to see how Kinch reacted.
Kinch wouldn't back down though. He made it clear to his fellow officers that he actually meant what he said. To this very day, Kinch, speaking to the Las Vegas Sun, stands by his comments and suggests he deserves some extra protection BECAUSE he's a police officer:
Kinch said he doesn’t feel his comments were a mistake. He does regret not providing proper context, he said.
And to those who assume he’s a racist?
“That’s pretty retarded,” he said.
Kinch allowed that private citizens likely would be fired for writing the same things he did on Facebook.
“If somebody took that out of context, they might,” Kinch said. “I know another thing about life and especially about Metro. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”
Finally, Kinch was suspended by an African-American lieutenant, Clint Nichols, and an investigation began. Yesterday, after nearly a year, it was announced that the investigation was over, and Detective Kinch was allowed to go back to investigating cases with no true consequence.
Not only that, but, according to the Las Vegas Sun, in a sick twist, in a tactic not known to the general public, he's primarily in charge of investigating African Americans:
Metro’s robbery section, in a tactic that’s apparently common in police departments nationwide, assigns cases by a suspect’s race. Some detectives investigate primarily white, Hispanic, Asian or black suspects.
Police say it’s easier for officers studying faces to recognize facial features from one ethnic group.
Kinch, according to sources, although still on desk duty, was assigned primarily to investigate minority suspects.
Shouldn't officers of the law be held to a higher standard than other public citizens? Shouldn't we go above and beyond to make sure that those who have the power to investigate crimes and use lethal force are not bigots who speak of race wars and allude to shooting the president of the United States?
Why is it that this officer, of all people, with so much power and influence, has been given a virtual pass for the feelings he holds and the statements he has made without as little as a public apology? It's despicable. Las Vegas just came out of being investigated by the DOJ, but it seems like some old habits die hard.