Rochester Officer Placed On Leave After Anti-Protestor Facebook Post
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Minnesota police chief says he is frustrated and disappointed after he was sent a letter (WARNING: Link contains strong language) about one of his officers.
The letter shows Facebook posts that appear to be from Rochester Officer Ben Schlag. One says to "get a job," and references running over protestors.
A group that tracks online racism reported the posts to the chief, and the officer's job is now in question.
The November Black Lives Matter protests caused many passionate reactions beyond the city of Minneapolis. A group called Me to We Racial Healing monitors online racism and says someone sent them some troubling posts.
"We looked at it and did analysis and said this doesn't look good, there's a pattern here," said Andrea Grazzini, founder of Me to We Racial Healing.
They analyzed the account, which they say appears to belong to Schlag.
"It was multiple posts, most of them were visual posts, they were pictures but the message was really quite clear," said Grazzini.
The group said they saw themes of hate against African-Americans and Muslims. They did some further research and sent Schlag's boss a letter.
"We would obviously much rather be spending our time now on public safety issues instead of problems that we created for ourselves," said Chief Roger Peterson. "This is not us, and it's an issue obviously we need to deal with."
The chief says they will work to verify who made the posts, and when and why they were made. Schlag is on paid leave as the department tries to figure out if these are words he will have to pay for.
"What we hope is that this is the start of a robust, and a sincere, and a transparent investigation, and that there are clear and concrete outcomes from it," said Grazzini.
This may sound familiar, as last week a St. Paul officer resigned after admitting to posting about running over protesters. WCCO reached out to Schlag, but he has not responded.
The chief says they will make this investigation as quick as possible.
