Philadelphia cops will lose jobs over racist, homophobic Facebook posts

More than a dozen Philadelphia police officers will be fired after a series of racist, homophobic and violent Facebook posts that they allegedly shared were exposed by a watchdog group, the city’s top cop announced.

At least 13 officers were determined to be the worst offenders among 328 of the city’s cops identified in a national database compiled by the Plain View Project, Police Commissioner Richard Ross said Thursday, according to NBC Philadelphia.

The officers will be suspended for 30 days with the intent to boot them from the force, Ross said.

One of the most appalling posts shared by Philly cops was a meme with the message, “Death to Islam,” Ross told the station.

Others called black people “thugs,” and shared homophobic memes encouraging violence, according to Ross.

Four more officers, who were found to have shared less violent messages, will face 30-day suspensions and will need to attend anti-bias training, Ross told the outlet.

Another group of officers — who violated the department’s social media policy but did not advocate hate or excessive force — will be suspended for five days, according to Ross. They are required to attend ongoing sensitivity training.

“I continue to be very disappointed and angered by these posts, many of which violate basic human decency,” Ross said. “We need to move past this ridiculous hate that has consumed this country and has done so for centuries.”

None of the officers have been identified, pending final paperwork, according to the report. Several were away on vacation when the firings were announced — and they had previously been informed of disciplinary action, Ross said.

But John McNesby, president of the local Fraternal Order of Police, told the outlet that although he was aware of the dismissals, he was “disappointed officers will be fired without due process.”

McNesby said the union is meeting with each officer to prepare an “appropriate response to protect our members’ rights under the contract.”

“FOP Lodge #5 and our members condemn racist and hateful speech in any form,” McNesby told the station. “The overwhelming majority of our members serve this city with integrity and professionalism.”

The firings come about a month after 72 officers were placed on desk duty shortly after the June 1 release of the Plain View Project database.

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