San Jose’s police department has a White privilege problem.
This isn’t the insidious issue in which white people blithely advance and prosper at the expense of non-white peers. The problem starts and ends with SJPD officer Phil White, and the issues at play include free speech, hate speech, union contracts and the expectations we place on individuals given the ultimate authority.
Let’s start from the beginning:
In December 2014, officer White, a 20-year SJPD veteran, sent out threatening tweets directed at sympathizers of the late Eric Garner and the #BlackLivesMatter movement. White informed the social media public that he would be off duty at the movies, carrying his gun, and if anyone had a problem with that, or threatened him or his family (whatever that means), he would use his “God given law appointed right and duty to kill you.”
He ended with the hashtag #CopsLivesMatter.
This was the culmination of several weeks of Twitter screeds in which White used his First Amendment right to take aim at the free speech of others, such as the Cal women’s basketball team, which posted a photo of players wearing “Black Lives Matter” shirts.
“This is BS,” White tweeted. “Free education. Don't forget who is paying for your school ... me & other CA tax paying cops.”
Putting aside the absurdity of criticizing college kids for protesting, or some other garbage about taxpayer money equaling ownership over young women in high-tops, White showed his true colors over the course of weeks—not two tweets—and, as a result, the department fired him in October 2015. He was also let go as an assistant coach of a small college basketball program.
Fast forward several months, and this week the department announced that White was reinstated through an independent arbitrator’s ruling. The contract structure between the city and its Police Officers Association allows all personnel disputes to be taken to the civil service commission or an independent arbitrator. All documents related to arbitration are confidential, and the ruling to reinstate White is binding.
That is officer White’s privilege, and it’s now San Jose’s problem.
Police Chief Eddie Garcia and Mayor Sam Liccardo both expressed their disappointment in the decision to reinstate, but that failed to appease the very people officer White intended to intimidate.
On Wednesday, community activists and the NAACP held a press conference calling on the city to challenge the arbitrator’s ruling in Superior Court. The city of San Jose has 30 days to respond, and communications director David Vossbrink tells San Jose Inside that the city attorney’s office is currently conducting a review to present to the City Council in closed session. It doesn’t appear on this coming week’s agenda.
“There are very, very narrow grounds to overturning an arbitration decision,” Vossbrink says. “You have to find that there was some sort of major fault in how the process went, or some sort of fraud involved that really calls into question the integrity of the process.”
The chances of winning the challenge are slim, but in no way should that prevent the city from exploring every option to challenge the arbitrator’s ruling.
White may have had an impeccable record leading up to his social media meltdown, but his words were hateful, dangerous and sustained over a period of time. And let’s not fool ourselves into believing officer White is alone in his opinion.
Some of the law enforcement officials I’ve spoken with in candid conversations have felt targeted as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement, right or wrong. As a result, though, valid claims of institutional bias and racism have been discounted or appropriated under the disingenuous umbrella of arguing all lives matter. Such attempts only serve to sidetrack focused discussions on people of color being mistreated in public, incarcerated at alarmingly disproportionate rates and/or killed while in custody.
I asked Chief Garcia if officer White had learned anything from this process, and the chief couldn’t say.
“I can’t speak for him,” Garcia said. “I would hope so.”
Judging by his online comments, Officer White’s remorse might center primarily on the fact that he lost four months of pay and benefits in between his firing and reinstatement. He’s back with the department in an administrative role assisting with the body-worn camera program, which Garcia has described as a chance at “redemption.”
Does officer White even believe he needs redemption? Are their factions in the department who actually consider officer White to be a victim? Who knows.
What we do know is that San Jose’s top officials believe they have a cop unfit to serve on the force and a carry a service weapon on his off-duty hours. And this is exactly why the city needs to challenge the arbitrator’s decision.
It sends a message to every other San Jose police officer that they do not have a “God given and law appointed right to kill you.” It sends a message that words matter. It sends the message that men and women granted the ultimate authority under the law—to take a life—cannot threaten the very citizens they’ve sworn to protect.
“White privilege problem?”
Hillary Clinton has a white privilege problem.
Who else could get away with her gross, criminal mishandling of top secret national security information.
Firing squad stuff for most people.
Try sticking to the topic.
Off topic, irrelevant, false and you didn’t even read the f-ing article. STFU.
Dave and Max:
Topic is “white privilege”.
We need to talk about Obama’s mama, and Obama’s granny’s white privilege, too.
Obama’s granny was a “typical white woman”.
“Typical white woman” means “white privilege” in Progressive-speak.
Sjoutsidethebubble – why do we need to “talk about Obama’s mama and Obama’s granny”? What do they have to do with anything? You make no sense at all and you certainly have no clue what a “typical white woman” is. I suggest you try posting on Yahoo’s comments where you will find many, many haters just like you.
> I suggest you try posting on Yahoo’s comments where you will find many, many haters just like you.
MAXWORSE:
I might say that you’re missing the point, but that would be incorrect.
You’re DENYING the point because it’s dead on the mark and highly inconvenient to your tribalist belief system.
Yes. You are a tribalist and your tribes are at war with 1.) the “white” tribe, and 2.) the “police” tribe.
Josh Koehn clearly framed the problem and put it in a neat little box for you:
“SJPD’s White Privilege Problem”
He even used bold headline font so the mouth breathers would KNOW that he’s attacking the SJPD and “whites”.
Speaking of “haters”, MAXWORSE, which enemy tribe do you hate more: the SJPD or “whites”?
“MAXWORSE”? I suppose you find that terribly clever but in reality it only indicates your level of intelligence. What grade are you in?
I have neither missed your point nor denied your point because as of yet, you have not made one relevant point. So please wait until you actually make a point before you accuse people of missing or denying it.
“Tribes”? “Tribalists”? What exactly are you talking about? Do you live in a jungle where there are tribes? I am simply a white human being, of no particular “tribe,” and a public servant who has nothing but respect for police officers, which I clearly stated in my first comment. Apparently your “tribe” can read but not comprehend what you’re reading. And if you really do care to know what I do actually hate rather than telling me I “hate white tribes and the SJPD,” (I have no idea what you mean or what your point is here) I absolutely abhor stupidity and ignorance.
“Mouth breathers”? Once again, I have no idea what you even mean by that.
Again Josh you change the “wording” and denied changing the posted article. And you call this reporting. Shame on you and SJI!
Here is another white privilege problem. Scroll through the link and look at the comments made by this guy Daniel Bobay who is on the Milpitas school board. http://www.milpitastrojannews.com
It doesn’t surprise me to find that there is another police officer who is possibly racist, although the two tweets shown in this article don’t necessarily indicate that specifically. He sounds more upset that there is so much focus on “black lives matter” when, in reality, it should be All Lives Matter. And he is correct in stating that “cops lives matter.” Cops lives do matter just as much as anyone else’s and it is just as wrong for people to be threatening the lives and well-being of police officers as it is for anyone to threaten the lives and well-being of anyone, be they white, black, brown, red, yellow, green, pink or purple. Once again, ALL lives matter. However, what I find surprising here is that we have yet another police office – a public servant – using public social media and/or emails to make his questionable points. Just how stupid are the people being hired as police officers??? I have always highly respected police officers for their integrity and what they do on a daily basis to “protect and serve.” And I continue to believe that this officer does not represent the majority of police officers. But actions such as his indicate, in my opinion, a low level of intelligence, compassion and tolerance and these should be the first three qualities to look for when hiring police officers.
Love your comment in regards to who the ….. is hiring these people? I remember not long ago people took pride in having integrity. …. Not to mention logic….. it’s not only law enforcement, but every level of San Jose government and some of Santa Clara County. Have you been to Family court lately??? ……
Several items are missing in the article and analysis. Would be nice to provide insight rather than echo outrage.
What is the basis for dismissal? Did White violate policy (e.g., use city equipment to Tweet)? Tweet on duty? Violate Chief Rob Davis 2009 social media policy (which has not been incorporated in the the Duty Manual)? Is White accused of the blanket “conduct unbecoming an officer” Duty Manual violation? Something else?
Had his treatment been equitable? How many have been fired for “unbecoming conduct” and for what specific speech conduct? Were the 3 SJPD officers that excoriated Councilmember Khamis on Facebook? Or others that fumed over Measure B?
Why no punishments for cops venting about the (almost exclusively white) disruptive Occupy protests? But anything suggesting criticism of the assaults, mayhem, and threats against public officials and law enforcement by Black Lives Matter protestors is off-limits? Even the FBI’s head recently fretted over law enforcement giving non-white offenders a pass for fear of racial bias accusations.
Were the arbitrator’s ruling appealed, then likely that other instances of inconsistent disciplinary treatment would surface in court – further eroding public and officer confidence plus discouraging new hires for a woefully understaffed department. Then there’s the high litigation cost (likely millions) and low probability of prevailing (like Measure B and MLB challenges).
The elephant in the room is the First Amendment. Is it reasonable to demand that those upholding our laws be denied its protections? Or only when no one chooses to be offended?
Officer White’s performance may indeed warrant employment termination. But this article fails to make convincing arguments to appeal the arbitrator’s ruling.
The First Amendment wasn’t intended for use when someone threatens the life of others. This issue has nothing to do with people upholding our laws being denied their First Amendment rights. It’s against the law to seek out someone to kill, in Officer White’s case, specifically, whoever he thought was a Black Lives Matter activist. Hopefully they have given him a desk job so he isn’t out in the public targeting people of color who get in his way.
Tracy,
Please provide supporting details and case law where White acted as you assert. Keep in mind the Brandenburg and Schenck decisions.
Nothing I’ve seen claims White has targeted anyone or even been subject to citizen complaints. Safe to assume these would have been made public were there any. By all accounts he’s been an exemplary officer.
Understand that if White’s speech posed an imminent danger to someone, White could be arrested and/or be subject to a restraining order. But White’s speech doesn’t rise to that level.
Who did he seek out, to kill? Certainly nothing in this article or the tweets in question indicate he sought anyone out to kill them.
Joe, remember Rocklin Wooley and all of his behavior leading up to his shooting the Black IBM Executive and the drunk off duty officers who planted their private car tire iron on his body after the fact? The warning signs were clear to me after he pulled into the garage and showed me the fryed blood and teeth on the hood of his patrol car. There are nine officers like him who showed the same symptoms and later went on to kill under very dubious circumstances. See that’s the problem with stable cops keeping book on the nuts.
This case was reviewed by the DA and nowhere does it show he specifically threatened a specific person. The threat was not credible and didn’t rise to a violation of the law. His threat was based on the assumption someone going after him or his family. Too bad Koehn didn’t print the entire thread from the Twitter feed.
Read 422PC of the California Penal Code. The threat has to be directed to a specific person (the so called victim) and the person making the death threat has to have the immediate ability to carry that threat out. Immediate being the important word. In whites case it was done via an electronic public message not directed to any specifically named person-and this said unidentified persons location is unknown and could be anywhere in the world and not 10 feet in front of White. There Whites not capable of immediately carrying out the threat. That’s why no criminal case was filed. It’s a case of one stupid blogger vs. another stupid blogger.
Tracy,
Is this the death of so-called “community policing”? Officer White was an enthusiastic practitioner of the beloved “community policing” approach. Officer White made extraordinary efforts to give presentations at schools, as well as anti-drug and gang prevention meetings. He did “outreach” by coaching youth basketball. This made Officer White a somewhat “higher profile”, officer with a much more easily recognizable face. Undoubtedly it was relatively common for officer White, even while off-duty, to be recognized by school kids, their parents, counselors and others who had seen his photo or presentations both live and in various media form and who knew him as a police officer. I’m sure that being recognized as a cop off-duty nowadays can be a bit unnerving.
Imagine now that you are a police officer, and you know that because of your experience and “community outreach” efforts, you are easily recognizable as such both while on-duty, or off-duty and out with your family, and imagine a group, like “BlackLivesMatter”, and their apologists, marching around chanting “What do we want? Dead cops! When do want them? Now!”. Would such displays of uncondemned threatening behavior prompt you to be concerned for the safety of your family and yourself? Might it prompt someone to use some poorly chosen words in response to threats made by others? Most cops tend to be human too.
As well, I don’t understand how a “tweet” could be considered combative or in this case even pose a credible threat. I have never seen a “tweet” injure or kill anyone. I have never seen a “tweet” burn down buildings in Ferguson; or in Baltimore; or assassinate 2 cops sitting in their car in New York. Did I just miss something? Was I not paying attention?
I don’t mean to be flippant here but anyone who believes that officer White’s “savage tweets” were threatening really doesn’t understand how real preconceived or anticipatory violence works. Think about it. If you were going to do violence to someone, would you warn them first? Would you post your intentions on public media? That officer White vented some “steam” in the manner he did made him, in my mind, much less threatening.
One of the most threatening, and I think dangerous, officers I knew never raised his voice, never swore and was always, yet not overtly, confident. I know of at least one case where a suspect, high on “crack”, threatened physical violence against the officer. The officer’s response was, calmly, “Sir, please. That would be a mistake and it’s not necessary”. I have no doubt the suspect interpreted that as a sign of weakness. The result was disastrous for the suspect who sustained injuries sufficient for an overnight hospital stay and a jail booking the following afternoon. This same officer once saw a suspect start to reach for a weapon in his waistband. As he did so, the officer told him, calmly, “I’d think about that”. The suspect thought about it, interpreted it as a sign of weakness, made the wrong decision and the officer’s hit probability ended up being 100% while the suspect’s was 0%.
So, I ask you, which would you find more threatening; having officer White vent off some “Dirty Harry-esque” tweet; or having the other officer mentioned above calmly tell you, “Sir, you’re making a mistake”. I know from experience “it’s always the quiet ones”. Officer White has an exemplary record. Think about it.
JSR,
Thanks for the perspective about officer White. Not aware of his community involvement and don’t believe it was reported elsewhere.
I don’t find anything about White’s arbitration ruling on the SJPOA site. The news report that White won’t be reimbursed for 4 months of lost salary is puzzling. Unclear if this was part of the arbitrator’s decision / settlement, indicative of POA contract deficiencies, or something else.
Any insight on his lost salary?
“Police Chief Eddie Garcia and Mayor Sam Liccardo both expressed their disappointment in the decision to reinstate, but that failed to appease the very people officer White intended to intimidate.”
Who are the people officer White intended to intimidate? Is it Black Lives Matter? Is it community activists such as Raj Jayadev, Asian Law Alliance or Silicon Valley NAACP? INTERIM Police Chief Garcia is not obligated to appease any of these people. He is not obligated to offer up a “White” sacrificial lamb. He is obligated to ensure that the Constitution of the United States is upheld and the citizens of San Jose remain safe from crime. A debatable opinion I’m sure.
Nonetheless, he did exactly what those factions wanted. Officer White was terminated. Acting Chief Garcia should move forward and leave the pandering to Mayor Liccardo. He is an expert at it.
I find it interesting that Mr. Cohen the managing editor of the Metro paper, a paper which promotes issues like it’s personal adds which by the way is a front for prostitution is so readily speaking of people’s right yet wants to condemn Whites rights simply because he is a police officer.
Last year was a tragic years with police officers being targeted for murder simply because of their profession. This year that trend is continuing. Let’s day this starts happening to other professionals like people at newspaper’s. Would they be so kind as too not become upset at such a trend.
My point is I for one believe that White was frustrated and vented on social media, it’s his right just the same as the black lives matter movement calling for people to kill cops and or whites. As distasteful as it is it’s freedom of speech. I don’t see Mr. Cohen going after organizations that want to kill police officers on national media’s. It’s obvious that his agenda is one side and obviously bias. Too bad someday he might be the target and if that happens who would he call? Who might respond too protect him no matter what. For all I know maybe Officer White and protect Cohen he would. No matter what Cohen has said about him.
Officer White’s “threats” consisted of a rudely worded, vague statement of his location (an unspecified movie theater), the fact that he was armed (legally), and a willingness to defend himself and his family, to the greatest extreme if necessary.
You also object to Officer White expressing an opinion on some basketball players using their First Amendment rights to express…an opinion.
And Josh, you throw unsupported opinions around like facts, I.e., what opinions are “valid claims” as opposed to “a disingenuous umbrella of arguing”.
“Let’s start from the beginning:” — Josh Koehn
Okay. You accused White of sending out threatening tweets, basing your accusation on his informing a collection of nameless tweeters that he’d be at the movies that night with his gun. You (and the DA) make this out to be a frightening, reckless act, when in fact it is the Twitter equivalent of howling at the moon. His saying he’d be at the movies might actually mean something if White lived in a county where there was only one movie house with one nightly showing, not dozens of theaters with numerous start times. He “threatened” no one in particular at no place in particular — and that’s got you shaking in your boots?
“… White used his First Amendment right to take aim at the free speech of others…”
How you came to this conclusion is beyond me. From the evidence you provided White took aim at the content of the speech of others, not their free speech rights. How someone, who lacks the censoring power of the legislative or judicial arms of the government, can “take aim” at the free speech rights of others I’ll leave to you to explain.
“… Putting aside the absurdity of criticizing college kids for protesting…”
Since when is it absurd to criticize college kids for anything? America’s taxpayers established and support public universities to give young people access to higher education, and anything they do outside their studies — whether it’s drinking to excess or staging a protest, is fair game for criticism.
“… White showed his true colors over the course of weeks…”
In your politically-correct, hysteria prone world, two weeks of contentious tweeting is more persuasive than twenty years of mettle-testing, big city police work. Amazing. You must believe his trigger-finger’s been twitching since he first strapped on a gun belt.
That you expressed disdain for the legal process that led to White’s reinstatement is not surprising, but for you and others in the community to posture as if your complaint is about the process is laughable. Your complaint isn’t about the process, it’s about the result. Had the arbitrator upheld the termination the confidentiality, the binding nature of the arbitration, and the “White privilege” against which you now rail would never have even occurred to you.
“Police Chief Eddie Garcia and Mayor Sam Liccardo both expressed their disappointment in the decision to reinstate…”
Tell me, did Sam’s lips move when Eddie spoke? I guess neither one of these street performers realize that if a victory at the arbitrator’s table is guaranteed to be spoiled by the public comments of the police chief and mayor the arbitration process — designed to avoid alternative routes that can involve costly and time-consuming appeals, might go by the wayside.
Mr. Koehn may not realize it but he is a warrior, one of millions of other violence-eschewing, progressive citizens who are waging a battle of words and gutting the rulebook trying to keep black people from being held accountable for their actions. Violent crime, unwed motherhood, theft, deadbeat dads, drug dealing, educational failure, welfare fraud, demands for special consideration and privileges, filthy cultural contributions — these are the atrocious behaviors that must be denied, ignored, or explained away (typically using hogwash social science provided by white liberals). The battle requires that casualties be inflicted, so what better group to target than white cops, who, due to the nature of the work and the people attracted to it, will reliably commit a handful of horrendous mistakes every year, mistakes that can be used to slander and scapegoat the entire profession. That’s the real White Privilege, Mr. Koehn; and that people like you are so eager to ruin a man’s life simply because he let himself get provoked into howling at the moon demonstrates that, when it comes to endangering liberty, your kind are by far the most dangerous.
Josh and his “Opinion Privilege”…..lucky he even has a job.
Amen Dean,
Josh your headline sucks it almost contradicts what Office White posted. The officer had the right to arbitration, used them and was given his job back. No question his posts were in bad taste but he paid a huge punishment but not to the level to be terminated. And the mayor is jumping on the band wagon to be politically correct, but what do you expect! He knows the process but needs to save face with the activists. If this matter were not so serious, you too should be fired but you are tied to the MN. Seems you can post anything you want without recourse. As well as anti-police groups can say anything they want. How about in your next post you make suggestions how to improve relations instead of always being on the attack. But that is what you and the Mercury news do business.
At the very least Josh, could you please edit the title to have “quotations” around “White?”
While I disagree with a number of your assertions, Officer White definitely made a mistake by publically tweeting such words regarding provocative issues. However, he did nothing criminal, nothing in violation of department policy and said nothing that wasn’t highly dependent upon the interpretation of the reader. This should not automatically cost him his job, but just as he made his opinions public, maybe he should be compelled to apologize to the public.
An issue that has largely been left out of the media’s constant coverage of “the growing racial tensions” in America, is that Police officers across the country are being marginalized as a result of the constant negative narrative surrounding their profession. When, as the result of a hysterical media, you can be subject to months, weeks, days and soon to be years of scrutiny for doing your job properly by a public who is largely uneducated regarding the policies, training, protocol and stress of your decisions, there will be negative outcomes. How these outcomes manifest themselves will be anyone’s guess, but I can assure you, the innocent civilians and members of our society who need police protection the most will ultimately experience the greatest effects. Why? Because plain and simple, law enforcement in this country will develop a much more risk oriented style of policing that will undoubtedly result in less arrests, less proactive enforcement, and ultimately more Victims.
When I read Officer White’s comments, i saw a lot of frustration and inability to deal with a problem much, much bigger than Officer White. Did he lose his 1st Amendment rights when he signed on as a “public” employee? What about other public employees — do they lose their rights?
Yes, Josh Koehn, as a San Jose Police Officer with more than 20 years experience, I do consider Phil White to be a victim. I don’t condone his tweets; they were dumb. I’m fine with him receiving punishment as a result; four months without pay is significant, but I don’t think it was grossly unfair. Nevertheless, Phil White is a victim of politics and political correctness.
You write “What we do know is that San Jose’s top officials believe they have a cop unfit to serve on the force and a carry a service weapon on his off-duty hours.” I submit that we know nothing of the sort. What we actually know is that political expediency led to the firing of officer White. I will guarantee you that those in charge of SJPD knew all along that the firing would never be upheld on appeal. The arbitrator’s decision was no surprise. Nevertheless, a mayor who bends in whichever direction the political winds are blowing and a Chief of Police who was always eager to please the city fired him anyway. White exercised his right to appeal, which exists to prevent those who enforce the law from being subjected to the political whims of those in power, and got his job back. Now, politics demands further political grandstanding on the part of the mayor.
Why? Apparently because those who protested officer White’s actions have not been “appeased,” according to Koehn. What Koehn either fails to recognize or disingenuously fails to state, is that people like Raj Jayadev and the small group of people he and others like him represent, will never be happy with the police. They certainly are “community activists,” but they definitely are not community leaders. People like Jayadev don’t represent any significant percentage of the San Jose community. They simply represent their own special interest. In Jayadev’s case, it’s how he makes his living.
What might be hard for Koehn to accept is that the vast majority of San Jose residents, in all parts of the city, support the police. I’ve worked most of my career on the east side, where law abiding, hard working people have to live in closer proximity to those who might attempt to victimize them than residents of other parts of San Jose. In these neighborhoods, which are populated in overwhelming numbers by “people of color,” we receive waves, smiles and thank yous on a regular basis, just for being there.
Phil White probably let his frustration get the best of him, and while it doesn’t excuse his tweets, it isn’t hard to understand why he might’ve been frustrated. In a world where the actions of police are regularly portrayed in the most negative light possible, where Michael Brown is still viewed as a victim, although the evidence showed the contrary, and where politicians everywhere, including the President of the United States, are riding the anti-police political wave at every opportunity, it’s sometimes hard to remember that most people like us and are happy we do the job we do. It’s something we need to always keep in mind.
I’m glad Koehn wrote this piece, because it provides the clearest evidence of his own bias. In his world, the Black Lives Matter movement cannot be criticized because, as a result, “valid claims of institutional bias and racism have been discounted or appropriated under the disingenuous umbrella of arguing all lives matter.” All Lives Matter? What a ridiculous concept. Black Lives Matter protesters advocating killing police officers? Not worth talking about. According to Koehn, White had no business criticizing the speech of others and, by implication, no free speech rights himself. For tweeting words that amounted to bad judgement, but not a crime, White shouldn’t just be punished, he should be fired, despite having conducted himself in exemplary fashion at work for over two decades. Why, according to Koehn? To send a message to all those other bad cops out there who are thinking of threatening people.
Fortunately for Koehn, a lack of bias apparently isn’t a job requirement for a “journalist.” In fact, it appears that it might even be helpful, because fairness, when talking about the police, is probably bad for business.
Thank you and others professionals that serve and protect. Am also struck by the tragedy and irony of this.
By all accounts officer White has led an exemplary 18+ year career. A desk duty / body cam project management job siphons his rare skills and experience from directly protecting San Jose residents. It’s probably not a job he’s trained to do (most aren’t and mismanage when forced to undertake such assignments). The Project Management Institute (www.pmi.org) offers training and resources. Success is the best revenge and hope he’s able to deliver successful results.
Acting Chief Garcia fails to understand crisis management 101 and personnel development – further adding to the Euripidean aspects.
Assign White to additional community outreach duties. He may get some adverse comments, but also an opportunity to improve community relations. The overall experience could be used for training purposes too.
The ironic aspect is that Mr. Koehn’s piece is more cringeworthy than officer White’s Tweets. Integrity, accuracy, balance, insightful fulness, and other values that Metro observes have been kicked to the curb. Essentially the same criticisms leveled at officer White are employed in Mr. Koehn’s piece.
“[P]eople like Raj Jayadev and the small group of people he and others like him represent, will never be happy with the police. . . . In Jayadev’s case, it’s how he makes his living.” Rarely are truer words said.
Having all this jerk’s tweets compiled would help to give more context here. I have read some of his other past tweets and, in my opinion, they met the criteria of conduct unbecoming an officer. This is not a person who should be in civic authority or carrying a weapon in public. His violently-aggressive superiority complex and lack of respect for the rights of those who express perspectives not in line with his own is frightening. I think most of us hope that officers responsible for making decisions related to our public safety would show more objectivity and professionalism. His over-dramatic, threatening communications show that he leads with his emotions and his ego. Frankly, I’m getting sick of seeing opinion based social media posts from various civic branches in SJ, many of these personal posts being made during work hours. Santa Clara county making political assertions, etc. Do we not have external communications policies in place? This unprofessional bullshit makes our city look like a real joke.
MAXWORSE says:
> I have no idea what you mean or what your point is here
Yes. It’s obvious. Broadly obvious.
Brilliant post, as always. Both broadly and otherwise.
First, let me be up front with this incident involving Officer White: He was out of line with his comments. Very unprofessional and unofficer-like-conduct. However, it is my opinion (my opinion only) that it does not meet the level of dismissal. It does meet the level of discipline by the department. Secondly Josh, you have achieved the level of a badly written article, starting with the title. Perhaps your editor should dismiss you. Your past behavior is an indication of your future performance.
Yo Sal! Josh IS the editor.
Thank you.
One solution: Provide Officer White with a “Full-Medical Retirement Package.”
David S. Wall
I have no problem with White’s reinstatement. I have a habit of posting things that piss a lot of people off.
* Not a single racial epitaph was used in any of White’s posts (although the media is stretching that it is)
* While “public shaming worthy” none of it is “Fire worthy”
Nothing really else to say about it.
> I have no problem with White’s reinstatement.
I agree.
Office White probably exhibited unwise and poorly thought out behavior. He probably tiptoed up to the edge of “conduct unbecoming an officer.”
The SJPD presumably has “rules of conduct” and disciplinary procedures.
As far as we know, they compared Officer White’s conduct with the rules in a fair proceeding and determined an appropriate discipline, far short of dismissal or retirement.
Case closed.
Mayor Liccardo and Chief Garcia are supposed to provide leadership and adult behavior.
The worst thing they could do is respond to populist clamor, and offer up scapegoats to quell the mob.
Haven’t they learned that mobs will never be quelled?
Blood for the mob just incites more blood lust. “Successful behavior is repeated.”
Here’s Sam pandering to the fringe minority after the Ferguson incident. SAM never misses an opportunity to further divide a wedge between cops and citizens. Please note the usual cheap suit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_HuSnqtFzo
Agree, Robert.
Sam Liccardo is not to be believed on the matter of ethnic diversity. Case in point, his primary campaign featured a video the first part of which defamed older diverse white Americans as greasy eaters celebrating winning a bond campaign, and pointed out that they were being greedy toward the next generation. The second half showed him sauntering down the sidewalk with a man who had been found guilty of a felony based on his attack against a law enforcement officer with a metal tennis racket. So our beloved (sarcasm) mayor, before he won the primary, displayed a remarkable bias against the diverse white Americans and in support of persons convicted of a felony of violence against a law enforcement officer. Liccardo didn’t lie then, he was opposed to law enforcement officers and in favor of persons convicted of felony.
Cousin Cortese wrote: “Not a single racial EPITAPH was used in any of White’s posts…” Quite a Freudian slip there Cuz. Drop the doobie, get into the dictionary, discover what an epitaph is, and find the correct word to express your opinion. Take your time, have some Doritos and some M&Ms, and get back to us with the correct word.
You’re right, wrong word used. You could have just pointed that out without being an @$$.
Say what you will about Donald Trump, but his wild popularity is partially born out of issues just like this media lynching of Officer White. When will media like SJI have the courage to poke the hornet’s nest of reverse racism and double standards? Why is it off limits to question why a group called “Black Lives Matter” is given validity to the point of being invited to the Whitehouse, while if a group came along and called itself “White Lives Matter” we all know what would happen? When will mainstream media quit holding up the likes of Al Sharpton or the local Raj Jayadev as heroes, and have the courage to point out they thrive on perpetuating the victim mentality, and have done at least as much harm keeping down a class of society as any perceived white ceiling they disingenuously decry? Every race, religion, ethnicity etc has been persecuted at some time in history, yet they have fought through it to not only survive, but thrive. These groups believe in hard work, education, and family structure which have propelled them in our society. The sensitization of these tweets, which might be in poor taste but nothing more, just sends a divisive message that only perpetuates the victim mentality.
The race baiting, victim perpetualization folks like black lives matter, Raj Jayadev and his kind, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and others all work both the PC media types and the shamelessly pandering journalists into a lather by cherry picking an isolated incident and blowing it way out of proportion with half truths and white guilt PC drivel like this most recent editorial example. They all conveniently and conspicuously IGNORE the fact that 7,000 black lives are taken BY OTHER BLACK MEN ANNUALLY in the USA. That number is provided by black Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, who aren’t working to do anything about it either. To all of the above race baiting, never had a real job opportunists I say: if black lives REALLY matter to you, work on stopping the taking of those 7,000 black lives annually by other black men. Of course you won’t do that, because that would force you to admit that the greatest enemies and killers of black men in this country are not cops, they are other black men. Then Jayadev, Sharpton, and Jackson would have to find real jobs, and PC journalists and politicians would have to find some other nonsense to beat their breasts about. Officer White’s tweets were extremely ill-advised, but they pale in comparison to the annual slaughter of black men by other black men. So, if black lives really matter to you—rather than getting headlines—get your butts off your chairs and your mouths away from microphones, and start doing something about the real black slaughter in America.
JMO:
There is really nothing to disagree with in your posting.
But the fact of the matter is similar sentiments have been voiced many times before.
“Black Lives Matter” is a creation of “progressives”.
It’s purpose is to be a distraction and divisive, and to make white people crazy.(i.e. cause a “reaction” which will validate the progressive narrative that white people are “racist”.)
The question is:
“Who is ‘Black Lives Matter’ REALLY, and WHY do they do what they do>”.
The “Black LIves Matter” playbook is unquestionably a byproduct of Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals”..
:”Black Lives Matter” is clearly in bed with the Democratic Party AND engaged in promiscuous sex.
So the starting point for addressing the ugly and malignant behavior of BLM is to require Democrat politicians and their bootlicks to take ownership of BLMs behavior and rhetoric and demand that they “stop the hate”.
Barack Obama, Jerry Brown. Barbara Boxer, Kamala Harris, Mike Honda, Ro Khanna, Sam Liccardo, RICH ROBINSON:
“Black lIves Matter” is YOUR tribe: They exist because you want them to exist AND you encourage their social pathology. If the Democrat Party didn’t endorse and validate BLM, they would cease to exist.
Come on Josh say it, “All Live’s Matter”, then lets see how long it takes for an angry crowd to form out side your office demanding your resignation. You get your tire’s slashed, your kids get beat up at school. The paper fires you, and reporters follow you around asking provocative questions just to piss you off and see if the can get you to scream at them to show your violent racist nature.
Someone puts gasoline on your lawn and sets it on fire at 3 am.
One of your coworker has his throat slashed. Reporters all over the country are getting shot at and killed.
Josh, you can’t carry a gun, not in this county and you have to wear a suit that says white racist reporter on the back and every non white kid in town knows he’s going to be famous if he stick knife in you or shoots you in the back.
Now is you chance Josh, tweet something clever to the world that’s going to make it all go away!
Empty,
Your responses towards Josh was no better than Whites, in extremely poor taste and judgement.
He was making a point. If you didnt get it loud and clear then you are asleep. The media along with several fringe groups are steering the nation down the toilet. And people wonder how Trump is doing so well. Wake up
Maybe I see the point, maybe I don’t. If you’re trying to equate writing == art, and anything written == art then ya, he would have a point. Unfortunately I’m not sure comments can be considered art.
For instance, when I listen to Suicidal Tendencies “I saw your mommy”
“I saw your mommy and your mommy was dead!”
I don’t ever imagine Suicidal Tendencies will come to “Kill my mommy” It’s a song. It’s art is intrinsic. I suggest empty breaks out a guitar, and sings his post with a little jingle behind it. Otherwise in its current form, it’s just passive aggressive bull$hit. I suspect neither of you will like Suicidal Tendencies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlHHmrYUPkc
RMC
Coming from you thanks for the complement!
If you REALLY want to commit suicide, you cut vertically, not horizontally.
There was never any intention to be rid of what I think is an emotionally troubled individual. He shows signs of the same emotional disruption that was found with the suicide officer in Fox Lake Ill. Notice how 8000 police officers responded to the Funeral as his brothers in Blue hid the fact that they knew in 11 minutes that it was a suicide and that he was a total criminal. That’s how SJPD responds to attacks against their ranks. They make mistakes in their prosecutions so an appeal can get their buddies back. Over and over they put the fix in and this time we’ll see how long this sad human being will last before he really goes off the rails. Yes, I will say “I told you so”. The City Attorney should get his check book out today.
Once again Jack Slade, aka George Nathan Jaeger, vents his wrath at the SJPD, which, after lancing him from its ranks as one does a troublesome boil on the butt, aggravated him by rebuffing him in his convoluted attempt to extract himself from a decade plus of civilian failure and psychological despair.
Besides his resentment toward law enforcement in general and SJPD in particular, what Jaeger makes most clear is that he is hopelessly crippled by his analytical incompetence. As outrageous as it is that he believes himself qualified to psychologically diagnose Officer White without ever having met him, he outdoes himself by equating an honorable veteran officer’s venting on Twitter to the staged suicide of a desperate embezzler (another police officer he did not meet). More than anything else this raises the question: George, was the pharmacy closed?
Another question: how exactly does a police department foil the “prosecution” of an officer who has broken no law. And how might White’s “buddies” gone about foiling a disciplinary process that was based solely on evidence already documented (and readily downloadable)? Tell us, did they conspire in a dastardly scheme to erase the internet?
That said, if there is one subject about which you can claim expertise, Georgie Boy, it’s going off the rails, which you did quite early in your police career. You had your big dreams of Hollywood fame and, later, delusions of rock and roll grandeur, but you obviously never got yourself on track. You’ve been a sad human being for half a lifetime, George, so what made you decide to spend it rooting against everyone else?
Speaking of “white privilege” . .
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/census-bureau-data-richest-counties-richer-poorest-poorer/story?id=12415751
99,2% white.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owsley_County,_Kentucky
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article2518087.html
SJO
Housing price’s is very reasonable there! starting at 63K for a single wide, 249K for a nice 3800sqft- er, and 475K
with 360 acres and a river running through it. wonder if it’s a dry county?