St. Louis County Police apologized after a Facebook post implying that a 12-year-old Cleveland boy’s behavior may have contributed to his death at the hands of a rookie Cleveland officer was removed Thursday. “I apologize to Tamir’s family and anyone who was offended by the post,” Chief Jon Belmar wrote in the apology, which was also posted to Facebook. “I was unaware of its presence prior to its release, I realize the message was insensitive to Tamir’s family and the sorrow they are currently experiencing.” The post was titled “Kids Will Be Kids?” and appeared on the page of the SLCPD’s City of Fenton precinct. The post used the death of…
St. Louis County Police apologized after a Facebook post implying that a 12-year-old Cleveland boy’s behavior may have contributed to his death at the hands of a rookie Cleveland officer was removed Thursday.
“I apologize to Tamir’s family and anyone who was offended by the post,” Chief Jon Belmar wrote in the apology, which was also posted to Facebook. “I was unaware of its presence prior to its release, I realize the message was insensitive to Tamir’s family and the sorrow they are currently experiencing.”
The post was titled “Kids Will Be Kids?” and appeared on the page of the SLCPD’s City of Fenton precinct. The post used the death of Tamir Rice as an example of “a ‘hot’ topic” that residents should be aware of — the risk of police getting called on children who are playing with pellet guns and AirSoft guns in their neighborhoods.
The aim of the post, written by neighborhood police officer Aaron Dilks, was to encourage conversation between parents and kids about playing with realistic-looking pellet guns.
“The point of ‘Kids Will Be Kids’ is that’s what kids will do… The point of putting [the post] out was to educate and make sure something like this doesn’t happen in the city of Fenton or in our area,” Dilks told Mediaite.
But the use of Rice as an example, and the underlying implication that police in that case responded appropriately, didn’t sit well with critics on social media. The post was removed Thursday morning.
Rice was fatally shot in November after playing with an AirSoft handgun in a park. The gun, which shoots plastic pellets, had its orange tip removed. Documents released this week revealed that Timothy Loehmann, the Cleveland cop who shot Tamir Rice, had resigned from a previous law enforcement job shortly after he was deemed unfit for policing.
The author of the post used the boy’s death as an example, despite admitting, “I do not know all the details of the story.”
The post read in part:
The police may get called to respond to “a child with a gun”… it is important to know how officers are trained to respond. If the type of gun is in question by the witness, the police will respond as though it is a real gun… If and AirSoft pistol is tucked in your pants like a holster then obviously the orange tip is no longer visible. The police will respond lights and sirens and come to a screeching halt in the area where your child is playing with the gun….
It goes on to list tips for children confronted by police in such a scenario. Read the full post below.
While the post explicitly did not take a side in the Rice case, it suggests that changes in children’s behavior — and not police procedures — would prevent similar shootings. Calls for comment to the Fenton Precinct were redirected to a St. Louis County media relations officer, and were not returned by time of writing.
Criticism of the use of police force, particularly when dealing with people of color, is a huge part of the national conversation right now.
On Wednesday, a grand jury in New York voted not to indict an NYPD officer in the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died after being placed in an apparent chokehold.
Last week, a grand jury in Missouri declined to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.
Both decisions sparked nationwide protests. The St. Louis County PD’s Facebook post is not the only law enforcement social media gaffe to come out amid the climate of frustration with policing.
Yesterday, just moments after news of the Eric Garner decision broke, the top community affairs officer for the NYPD tweeted an appeal for rebuilding the public’s trust in police. It totally backfired.
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St. Louis County Police Apologize For ‘Insensitive’ Facebook Post About Tamir Rice
