Pleasantville lets Burns keep
his job
PLEASANTVILLE — A village
police officer who was suspended after he apparently posted a vulgar, racist
post about President Barack Obama on his Facebook page last month will keep his
job after he accepted a litany of disciplinary measures Monday night.
The Board of Trustees
unanimously passed a resolution that allows Police Chief Richard Love to impose
on Officer Peter Burns a 60-day suspension without pay or benefits; forfeiture
of 25 vacation days; a psychological evaluation; a training program focused on
diversity and sensitivity; and a two-year “last chance” agreement, in effect a
probationary period.
“Officer Burns has provided an
apology to the community at large and to Pleasantville residents, as well as to
the chief and his colleagues in the police department,” Mayor Peter Scherer
said.
The post, posted on Dec. 11 on
a Facebook profile Burns operated under the name “Coon Trapper,” contained a
racial slur, using the “N word” to describe Obama and calling him
“un-American.”
“The fact that he (Obama) is
still alive bewilders me,” Burns wrote in the diatribe. “Go die in a shallow
grave you Muslim commie ... ”
Scherer described the Facebook
post as “offensive on many levels — its obscenity, its racial language and its
implied threat to the president.”
A screenshot of the rant was
obtained by The Journal News and shown to Love on Dec. 16. Love, who described
the post as “despicable” and said it was “totally unacceptable and will not be
tolerated,” suspended Burns the next day.
“These statements undermine the
confidence in law enforcement, and they cast doubt on the ability of this
officer to fulfill his sworn duty in a fair, unbiased manner,” Scherer said. “I
want to be clear that the village has no interest in the political beliefs of
its employees.”
He said the village does,
however, have a responsibility to ensure that its employees’ actions and
statements do not harm their ability to fulfill their duties.
Burns, 35, a Valhalla native,
joined the department in 2004 and receives an annual salary of $98,949.
The incident was the latest to
raise questions about standards for public servants and the balance between
personal and private use of social media.
In 2009, three Harrison police
officers were suspended and demoted after making lewd comments about
then-Supervisor Joan Walsh and swapping racist jokes about Obama. Last year, 17
New York City cops were suspended for posting racist and offensive comments on
a Facebook page devoted to the city’s 2011 West Indian Day Parade.
Those episodes, and similar
incidents across the country, have prompted many police and government agencies
to adopt social media policies for their employees. Pleasantville police do not
have such a policy.
Burns’ Facebook profile page,
which was deleted the day he was suspended, contained photos of Burns in
hunting gear and camouflage, and included links to hunting and animal trapping
websites. The page’s settings were private, meaning only those who “friended”
Burns had access to the Obama post and others on his Facebook page.
Some have portrayed village
police as racist following the shooting death of Danroy Henry, a black Pace
University football player, by Pleasantville Officer Aaron Hess, who is white.
The Oct. 17, 2010, incident
took place outside a Thornwood bar where Hess joined a number of Mount Pleasant
officers responding to reports of a disturbance involving a large crowd. Henry
was shot when he started to drive away. Hess, who ended up on the hood of
Henry’s car, was injured and has since retired.
The case has resulted in a
number of lawsuits. A county grand jury cleared officers of criminal wrongdoing
in the shooting.
