News of the dismissal of three Boston Police officers this week spurred conversations surrounding the First Amendment, standards for public employees, and their personal opinions — and what happens when all those factors collide in 280 characters or less.
In one case, Officer Michael Geary was deemed to have violated rules of officer conduct when he responded to an FBI Facebook post seeking help identifying Jan. 6 rioters, posting that “rats get bats.”
Geary explained the post in an internal investigation interview as “a satirical jab” at the federal agency.
But Geary’s actions, the presiding officer in his case determined, violated rules that require employees to “conduct themselves at all times, both on and off duty in such a manner as to reflect most favorably on the Department.” The BPD conduct, rights and responsibilities policy says conduct unbecoming an employee “shall include that which tends to indicate that the employee is unable or unfit to continue as a member of the Department or tends to impact the operation of the Department or its employees.”
In another case, Officer Joseph Abasciano, who admitted to attending the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally without entering the U.S. Capitol, was found to have violated the same officer conduct rules, as well as an ethics policy.
The specific ethics rule reads much the same, requiring employees to conduct their private affairs in a way that doesn’t reflect badly on the police department, “or in such a manner as to affect their ability to perform their duties honestly, effectively, fairly and without impairment.”
Check out
my story this week for specifics on what Officer Abasciano posted and how he defended his comments in the name of free speech.
The presiding hearing officer in Abasciano’s case wrote in a decision letter that his messages “reflect most unfavorably on the Department, as they support the [U.S. Capitol] riots and the insurrection of the United States government” and “hindered the Department’s continued efforts to build a trusting relationship with all members of the community at a time when policing is under intense scrutiny. Officer Abasciano’s twitter posts, regardless of his intentions to speak only for himself, are a reflection of the Department.”
The third dismissed officer, Sergeant Shana Cottone, had a slightly different case, which we'll be diving in to more here at GBH News.
But as a person with a similarly public-facing job, where my public comments can sometimes, even inadvertently, be interpreted as a reflection on my employer, these social media cases got me thinking: How far do free speech rights really shield anyone from repercussions at work?
Attorney David A. Russcol of the Boston-based firm Zalkind Duncan and Bernstein said as with most freedoms, there are generally accepted limitations. That’s especially true for government employees since the government is bound by the First Amendment and constitutional protections for free speech.
“The employer has to balance the individual’s right to free speech against doing their job and the efficiency of the public services that the government agency performs,” Russcol said.
So, public employees generally have limitations on what they can say on work time, or on their own time. The threshold question, he said, is “whether they’re speaking on a matter of public concern, and something that’s newsworthy, something that the general public would be interested in” — or rather on something that only really affects them.
And publicity, particularly in a polarized climate, often escalates matters.
“What’s put on social media can be out there longer than they might like, but that doesn’t mean that government is always right to take things into account that are posted privately,” Russcol cautioned.
The focus, he added, has to be on whether the person’s speech calls into question their ability to do their job.
Abasciano has obtained an attorney and said he intended to fight his dismissal. The outcome of his appeals may be an indication of how far public agencies can go in policing their employees’ social media use.
Care to tell me what you think on Twitter? 😊
Very Respectfully,
Saraya Wintersmith
