Police officer gets desk duty for wearing 'racist' shirt

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Updated 12:56 pm, Saturday, July 29, 2017

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Washington police officer is under investigation for wearing a T-shirt to court that an advocacy group says has a racist symbol and offensive images.

Local media report the unidentified officer was assigned to desk duty Friday and ordered to have no contact with the public, pending an investigation. Police Chief Peter Newsham called the T-shirt "disgraceful."

The black shirt shows the Grim Reaper holding a rifle under a District of Columbia flag. Above the image is the word "Powershift" with a cross embedded in the letter "o."

That image is a "sun cross," which advocacy groups say white supremacist groups use in their logos and imagery.





Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Police-officer-gets-desk-duty-for-wearing-11708900.php

[VermontKevin]

1. How about no contact with anyone?

I wouldn't want him handling evidence or filing, or anything else.

[csziggy]

3. He wore a T shirt to court?

Here that in itself would be unacceptable. Everyone is expected to wear "business casual" and generally police officers wear their uniforms.

Unless it is very different in Washington, the T shirt was symbolic in more ways than one.

[ProudLib72]

4. How about finding him in contempt

Slapping him with a huge fine and then firing his ass?

[cstanleytech]

7. Probably wouldnt work as the higher courts would find it would be protected speech

assuming they even agree with the groups claim about the shirt and before they can do that they would need to determine what the shirt is supposed to represent or mean and to be honest I dont understand the powershift reference at all and all I could find via a google search was this https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MPD-7D/conversations/topics/16376?reverse=1
Edit: Well I also found a bunch of references to throttling but I drive automatics and what I know about repairing cars or how the transmissions and motors work you could fit into a thimble and still have room for a few billion guests.

[still_one]

5. How about suspend him pending an investigation

[n2doc]

6. Image:

http://pix11.com/2017/07/29/police-officer-gets-desk-duty-for-wearing-racist-shirt-to-court/

[Orrex]

9. Wait... Seriously?

That's the Planescape font, used in AD&D roleplaying products 20+ years ago.

And dickless white supremacists chose that font for their racist banner?!?


That's pretty damn pathetic.

[lunasun]

10. Is that the police district listed on the back? Does the whole district have shirts?

[Midnight Writer]

11. Honestly, it looks like a gang thing

[mr_lebowski]

12. I'm thinking motorcycle club ...

This might not be racist thing ... possibly ...

Although the 'Let Me See That Waistband Jo' has a racist ring to it, given how many black people have been shot by cops on accounta theyz supposedly 'reaching for their waistband'. And JO could be short for 'jack-off'.

[beam me up scottie]

13. The O in Powershift looks like an Iron Cross too.

It's widely recognized as a hate symbol now so white supremacists don't use it by accident:

https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/iron-cross

If you call them on it they'll try to say it's older than Nazism and they're simply trying to 'reclaim' the symbol.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

14. I can't make it out but doe it say "let me see that waistband jo"?

JO or "JOE" is code for black among cops. Like "mule" or "silver back". Or in some circles "democrat"

[beam me up scottie]

15. Yep, there's no doubt he's using code to send a message.

The only question now is what his department is going to do with an openly racist cop. Keeping him as a desk jockey is an option - I don't like the idea of this guy keeping his job but I like the idea of him winning a lawsuit against them for wrongful termination even less. He definitely shouldn't be interacting with the public or carrying a gun, hopefully his department realizes that if they return him to duty they'll be liable for anything he does. I don't think they really care about their racist cops but they do care about covering their own asses.

[Shrike47]

8. Around here, the shirt wouldn't be accepted as professional wear for court.

He looks like one of the defendants appearing for sentencing.

[krispos42]

16. I read some of a discussion about this a day or two ago...

...on a different website.

Somebody made the point that this is (or similar to) the "Diablo" font, which might mean this is not racially charged.





Note the similarities between "W", "F", and of course "O".

Obviously I'm not defending racism here, but suspending or firing somebody because of a font choice would be wrong.

It's also used for mechanical drawings. It means "position" (commonly called "true position" to avoid being mistaken as a general noun) and is called out like this:



I deal with this daily at my job.

I'm far more curious as to what "Let me see that waistband jo" means. What is a "jo", besides a useful word in Scrabble or Words With Friends?

The Anti-Defamation League has a helpful listing of racist symbols.

https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols

[Initech]

17. If we want to end white supremacy, let's kick them out of the police force first!

Of course the dipshits will cry "freeeeeeeeee speeeeeeech!!!!!1!!1!"