Outrage After NYPD Cop Faces Probation for Tweeting #BlackLivesMatter
A Brooklyn cop was hit with departmental charges for replying to a precinct Twitter post with the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag.
According to the New York Daily News, Officer Gwendolyn Bishop replied to a 2016 post made by the 76th Precinct Twitter page. Her comment was posted to a tweet regarding a gun arrest in her precinct by an NYPD Special Ops team.
"Sad day for the 76th Pct. #Blacklivesmatter," Bishop allegedly wrote.
The comment was posted under Bishop’s personal account @ducklipzanddimplzz, officials said. The Twitter account is linked to Veronica Bishop, which is the cop's middle name, according to police.
Bishop’s Twitter page as well as her comment has been removed, yet the original post by the precinct remains.
The four-year veteran of the force informed superiors that she had no recollection of commenting on the post and that she does not often use Twitter. At her departmental trial on Tuesday, Bishop claimed that she meant to write #Bluelivesmatter but her phone autocorrected the hashtag.
"I vaguely remember the tweets," she told Commissioner David Weisel. "If I had to guess, there were a lot of changes in my precinct about shifts being switched, but it had nothing to do about this gun arrest."
According to officials, NYPD has strict guidelines about posting to official pages for precincts.
Additionally, Bishop was accused by her superiors of mouthing off and violating departmental rules. Department heads alleged that she took breaks without informing superiors, bypassed her boss to get approval for time off, and performed patrols on her own.
If found guilty of all the violations, Bishop could lose up to 30 vacation days and be put on a year probation, officials said.
News of Bishop's charges fueled the argument that some believe #BlackLivesMatter support is a threat
With Bishop being a cop, her story has ignited a #Blacklivesmatter vs. #Bluelivesmatter debate on twitter
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