Chief in Md. Urges Close Of Internet Police Forum

Officials Condemn Derisive Md. Chat

Chief J. Thomas Manger says the message board is owned and run by a private enterprise, not the police department. (Leslie E. Kossoff - AP)

Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger called on the department's union yesterday to take down an online message board that some police officers have used as a forum for disparaging, and sometimes racist, remarks about colleagues, supervisors, immigrants and other members of the community.

The union said it would not shut down the board, saying that it serves a legitimate purpose and that doing so would curtail officers' right to free speech.

The offensive messages were roundly condemned by county officials and community leaders.

"Let me be very clear. There is no place in our police department . . . for racism, bigotry and hatred," County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D) said. "As public servants, we not only take an oath to uphold the law, but we have a moral obligation to guarantee that the law is applied equally and fairly to everyone in our community."

Duncan said that if the union doesn't disable the message board, access to the site will be restricted from county workplaces.

Some of the messages, copies of which were published in The Washington Post yesterday, refer to Latino immigrants as "beaners." Others make sexual references to female officers and disparage some officers as "racists."

Margo Pave, an attorney for the Montgomery County Fraternal Order of Police, defended the message board and criticized the county's request that it be shut down.

"Certainly, if he wishes to approach us to talk about this, we can," she said, referring to Manger. "I don't think the proper channel for this discussion is through the press. They have our phone number. They can call."

Pave said the excerpts provided to The Post do not reflect the "bread and butter" of the discussions on the board, which she said has given officers, emboldened by anonymity, an opportunity to challenge their leaders and departmental policy.

"We neither censor or endorse what is on there," she said. She criticized the county's threat to block access to the site from county computers, saying that if Duncan "has that dim an opinion of free speech, I guess that's where he stands."

Manger did not respond to an interview request yesterday.

In a brief e-mail, he said yesterday's Post article misled readers because it "did not make it clear, whatsoever, that this is a private chat room, owned and operated by a private business. The reaction from the community demonstrated that they are left with the impression that the Police Dept. is the responsible organization."