Officer Fired, Rehired, then Suspended Over MySpace Page

**TXCharlie** · 10-18-06, 11:47 AM

http://www.nbc5i.com/news/10102641/detail.html

Watauga Officer, Attorney Appeal Suspension

POSTED: 8:23 am CDT October 18, 2006
UPDATED: 8:35 am CDT October 18, 2006

WATAUGA, Texas -- A police officer in Watauga fired over his MySpace.com Web page won his job back on Tuesday, but has been suspended again.

In a meeting at City Hall on Tuesday morning, a mediator determined the city failed to notify Jason Reddick of his rights and ordered the city to give him his job back. Just 30 minutes later, the city suspended him again for the same thing.

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Reddick was first fired last May after the city claimed he not only identified himself online as a Watauga police officer, but also had sexual and racial postings on his personal page on the popular social networking Web site.

Reddick and his attorney appealed, arguing he never wrote anything offensive and didn't know anyone else did, either. The comments on the page were allegedly posted by other users of the Web site.

"He said right from the beginning that this information was information that was posted by other people and that 'I didn't know about it,'" said attorney Lance Wyatt.

For the latest suspension, Wyatt said the city is using the same evidence, but slightly different wording.

"It's unfair. It is inappropriate and they are just using a little different language with the same evidence that they presented in the last hearing," said Wyatt.

Wyatt said the city is now conducting another investigation into the same Web page. The Watauga city attorney did not return calls from NBC 5 asking for comment on the situation.

**Terminator** · 10-18-06, 12:01 PM

I for one, am tired of law enforcement agencies violating their employer's rights, and thinking it's okay, because they're LEO's.

**TXCharlie** · 10-18-06, 12:17 PM

Yeah, that must suck to have to keep identies totally secret, even among friends, knowing that one slip by someone to the wrong person can mean your job

(edit to add: Or a big political hoopla over nothing).

**BigDawg** · 10-18-06, 12:29 PM

I hope he got back pay at least. Kind of seems like theyare punishing him all over again, but what they are really doing is trying to find a "legal" way to re-fire him I bet.

**olnacl** · 10-18-06, 01:49 PM

Most PDs have something in their General Orders about conduct that could bring discredit on the officer or PD while on or off duty. Not saying it's right, but it's there and if you hire on then you agree to play by their rules.

Is there someway for a person to control the content of his page? If someone writes something derogatory or inflammatory on your page can you delete that content?

**OFK** · 10-18-06, 03:16 PM

My space is evil!

**TwanimusPrime** · 10-18-06, 05:08 PM

Myspace isn't bad, its just stupid cops on myspace that get themselves in trouble. DON"T FUCKIN IDENTIFY YOUR AGENCY, for the love of god. Its that simple. I know on mine, I do hint and being a cop and put stuff on there that you can tell, but I don't post any pics of me in uniform and never identify my agency. And I keep my profile private so only my friends can get in. Even more selective on the people who can see my blogs. And I don't put anything to bad on there, if I wanted to I'd take anything down that even hints at being a cop.

So again, just don't be stupid about it. If you put "Hi, I'm Officer Douche with the Asstown Police Department, Badge # 69" yeah, yer gonna get shit. You wouldn't put that in an article in the newspaper, don't put it on yer pages. Just be smart about it and there will be no problems.

And if all else fails, make sure yer union dues are up to date ^^ AZCOPS local 7077 ftw!

**10-42Adam** · 10-19-06, 12:24 AM

Originally Posted by TwanimusPrime

Myspace isn't bad, its just stupid cops on myspace that get themselves in trouble. DON"T FUCKIN IDENTIFY YOUR AGENCY, for the love of god. Its that simple. I know on mine, I do hint and being a cop and put stuff on there that you can tell, but I don't post any pics of me in uniform and never identify my agency. And I keep my profile private so only my friends can get in. Even more selective on the people who can see my blogs. And I don't put anything to bad on there, if I wanted to I'd take anything down that even hints at being a cop.

So again, just don't be stupid about it. If you put "Hi, I'm Officer Douche with the Asstown Police Department, Badge # 69" yeah, yer gonna get shit. You wouldn't put that in an article in the newspaper, don't put it on yer pages. Just be smart about it and there will be no problems.

And if all else fails, make sure yer union dues are up to date ^^ AZCOPS local 7077 ftw!

Well said. It's only the officers that put all their info out there that are getting into trouble. Big mistake on their part - that's plain out asking for problems...