Officers' Site Sinks Into Outlet for Attacks

Five officers interviewed for this story said they think the uncivil messages are the work of a loud minority and do not reflect the values of most officers. But they say the messages offer a disturbing look into the minds of some of their colleagues, and they say they worry that the postings might influence rookies.

"If you treat your brothers and sisters like this," said Detective Terry Ridgley, president of the department's black officers association, "how can we expect you to treat members of the community with respect?"

The county's immigrants, a segment of the population whose trust the police department has worked hard to gain, have frequently been the target of offensive messages.

A January thread that started with a message about a sign at a district station turned into a rant about the county's changing demographics. One officer identified only as "4D" -- the Wheaton district station -- wrote: "Half of the district NO HABLA!!!! COMPRENDE??" Another poster using the pseudonym "SE HABLA AWE SCREW IT, HANDS UP PACO" responded later in the thread, which had "Ig'nant" as a subject line: "HALF, TRY 90 PERCENT . . . BEANERS GO HOME."

A February thread started by an officer looking for "a good painter that would be cheap" led to messages about the Minutemen, an anti-illegal immigration group that recently started scouting day laborer sites in the county.

"Casa de Maryland should be done away with, as should any safehaven for illegals," one writer, identified only as "." offered, referring to a group that assists immigrants in the county. "In 20 years you'll have 150 channels of Telemundo, and you'll be paying for English-language channels -- and you'll be at the day laborer center, waiting for a pick-up."

Another poster, who said he was a Hispanic officer, shot back: "This is the trash I have to deal [with] in this department everyday and it's getting really old. Cut it off. Next time when you call a signal 13" -- code for an officer in distress -- "or help for translation look around and see who's backing you up. Be safe."

Non-Hispanic immigrants have also been trounced on the site. In August 2004, officers criticized a group of African immigrants who protested after a Montgomery officer fatally shot Peter Ayompeuh Njang, 25, a Cameroonian immigrant, on Aug. 12 in Silver Spring.

"What I'd like to know is how many of the protesters are illegals, and how many will be arriving to the demonstration in unregistered, uninsured vehicles with someone else's credit card," one officer identified as "Status Quo" wrote.

Race and demographics are not the only volatile subjects on the boards. There have been sexually explicit postings. One depicted a fictional incident involving a female police commander in SWAT gear demanding sex from a female job applicant. Another posted under the name of a sergeant described how he masturbated while driving.

Message boards frequented by law enforcement officials have proliferated rapidly in recent years, said Chip DeBlock, a detective with the Tampa Police Department who started http://www.leoaffairs.com , a site that hosts more than 150 message boards for law enforcement communities, which he said gets more than 4 million hits per month.

DeBlock said the forums allow officers from different states to swap tips, discuss procedures and speak frankly to management -- frequently emboldened by anonymity.

Keeping the exchanges civil on the leoaffairs.com boards has required the help of 150 volunteer moderators.

In recent years, officers in Baltimore, New York and Detroit have been fired or suspended for running Web sites with online message boards that got out of hand, according to news accounts of those cases. In 2002, 24 District police officers were suspended after an investigation into the use of squad car computers to send offensive or threatening e-mail.

Montgomery officers say the union has declined to require posters to identity themselves on the message boards, a simple step they say would tame the content.

Walter Bader, president of the county's Fraternal Order of Police lodge, said some of the egregious messages could be the work of nonunion members who may have hacked into the site to undermine the union.

"We don't censor it, we don't actively monitor it," Bader said. "It's free speech, it's 2006, it's technology. I don't agree with some of what I see on there. I don't think people should slander each other. But we're in a free country. We should embrace free speech."

Montgomery officers say the command staff has known about the forum for several months but has not publicly denounced the destructive content. Although the department has no oversight over the board, officers said, commanders could easily restrict access to it from work computers.

"I'm ashamed of my department if they allow this to go on," said Eric Mason, a detective with the department's major crimes unit.