About 50 people turned out yesterday to a protest in front of the Humboldt County Courthouse calling on the Eureka Police Department to fire the officers who reportedly sent misogynistic and violent text messages that were leaked to the Sacramento Bee.
EPD Chief Steve Watson has placed two of the six officers involved in the group text messages obtained by the Bee on paid administrative leave and brought in an investigator from outside the area to conduct an internal affairs investigation into the messages. The Bee’s report identified Sgt. Rodrigo Reyna-Sanchez and officer Mark Meftah as the officers who sent messages that included seemingly joking references to “face-shooting” a suspect and beating up protesters, as well as others objectifying women and making fun of homeless residents.
Watson, the Eureka Police Officers Association and Mayor Susan Seaman have all issued statements critical of the messages.
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This article appears in The Cannabis Issue, 2021.
I know you folks would like these officers drawn, quartered and their heads on pikes at the city limits, TODAY. But could we at least (since despite what’s going on in Washington we ARE still America, and while we still have rights) give them due process and wait for the results of the independent investigation??? Calm down.
Termination should be the last resort. Get real people. There are certainly other intermediate remedial sanctions that could take place. Reduction of pay? Rank? Administrative time off without pay? Write on the chalkboard 1,000 times, “I will never do this again.”.
Or some type of politically correct sensitivity training? Certainly there are a multitude of other things that can take place first rather than a simply “firing.” Judging (judge, jury and excutioner by snowflakes waving cardboard signs and screaming/chanting…) someone’s career on this alone seems ludicrous.