Lt. Ryan, let’s talk about the rhetoric
Lieutenant, in light of the tweets that your group has sent out, I’d like to take you up on your offer to talk about the last year.
Barley 24 hours had passed – let alone 48 – after I asked Lt. Gene Ryan, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 3, how officers rebuild community trust while pointing out the rhetoric his organization has engaged in over the last year.
He said Thursday that if I wanted to talk about it, we can do so later. But at that moment, he wanted to talk about the acquittal of Officer Caesar Goodson in last year;s death of Freddie Gray. Goodson was found not guilty of the most serious charges in the case including second degree depraved heart murder and manslaughter (three different types for the record.)
Let’s start by going back to the future and point out some FOP’s remarks that upset community members and city leaders.
Days before the first unrest that took place in Baltimore last year, Ryan compared protesters to a “lynch mob” because the protesters called for the officers involved to be jailed immediately. (Baltimore Sun, April 22, 2015)
Nearly a month after the six officers involved were charged, crime spiked in Baltimore. Many accused officers of performing a work slowdown as payback to protesters and to city leaders. Ryan denied a work slow. However, in a tweet, Ryan did say officers are afraid of going to jail “for doing their jobs properly.”
Then in July 2015, the FOP released their after action review. Once again, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s famous (or infamous) misspeak on the first day of unrest; April 25, 2016. Ryan eventually said he didn’t want then-Commissioner Anthony Batts to leave towards the end of a news conference to discuss the review.
The mayor eventually fired Batts the same day because the conversation was too much about him and not about how to stem another violent summer in good ol’ Baltimore. It should be noted here that 2015 ended with the highest homicide count in decades.
Ryan blasted a $6.4 million settlement reached between the city and Freddie Gray’s family. He said it was “ridiculous” because none of the trials had taken place and that the settlement “threatens to interrupt any progress made toward restoring the relationship between members of the Baltimore Police Department and the Baltimore City government.” (Baltimore Magazine, Sept. 10, 2015)
And now, we come to June 25, 2016, where someone with keys to the FOP3 twitter account posted these two memes. (Screen captures from WJZ)
Those memes were instantly criticized by Police Commissioner Kevin Davis and City Council President Jack Young. The tweets have since been deleted. No apologies have been offered by the FOP.
Now that later has come, I would like to ask Lt. Ryan, once again, how can his group and officers rebuild community trust; especially with the rhetoric that his organization engaged on barely a day after you said the trust has to be rebuild? What should the community know about why those memes were tweeted out?