The officer, John Bingham, wrote a publicly accessible Facebook post on Monday in which he described his view of how law enforcement should be conducted.
“Sometimes you have to use profanity and threaten a persons [sic] well being to get their attention; sometimes you have to kill them,” Bingham wrote.
Elsewhere in the post he wrote, “I didn’t sign up to beg people to do things that’s required of them by law. I was trained to ASK, TELL, and MAKE someone comply with my commands as a law enforcement officer.”
He contrasted this approach with new so-called “verbal judo” techniques that he believes are being foisted on law enforcement by out-of-touch officials.
In a written statement on Wednesday, the Tupelo Police Department confirmed the termination of an officer over a social media posting but did not name the officer.
“This officer’s remarks in no way reflect the philosophy of the city of Tupelo,” said Wednesday’s statement.
Mayor Jason Shelton and the Tupelo Police Department would not take questions about the matter.
The press statement issued by the city on Wednesday highlighted the mayor’s recent appointment of six committees that will “discuss best practices for moving the City forward in a cohesive, inclusive manner.”
These committees were intended as a response to unrest and protests in the city over the June shooting death of Antwun “Ronnie” Shumpert at the hands of Tupelo police officer Tyler Cook.
The creation of a citizen advisory board is under consideration by one of these committees. Details remain under discussion, but at minimum such a board would likely issue policy recommendations to the chief of police.
Efforts also began last year to equip Tupelo police officers with body cameras. As of this week, however, no body cameras are in use by Tupelo police.
The now-fired officer singled out body cams for criticism in his Facebook post. He claimed that officers wearing body cams are more likely to be injured.
Bingham also described TPD leadership as divorced from the realities of a patrol officer’s experience.
Bingham did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment over his termination and later deleted the post in question.
The city of Tupelo’s statement said that city employees may freely express themselves on private social media accounts provided that “their speech does not impair working relationships, impede the performance of duties, impair discipline and harmony among coworkers or negatively affect the public perception of the City, including the Police Department.”
©2016 the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (Tupelo, Miss.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
