Do Police Have Freedom Of Speech? Black Lives Matter Tweet Leads To Discipline For NYPD Officer

A New York police officer faces possible discipline after replying to a Twitter comment from one of the city's precincts using the phrase "#blacklivesmatter."

Brooklyn officer Gwendolyn Bishop, who is black, replied to a February 2016 tweet from the official account of the NYPD's 76th precinct celebrating the recovery of a loaded handgun from an arrested suspect, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday. Bishop responded to the tweet from her private Twitter account, which did not identify her as a police officer. The response, which has since been deleted, reportedly said "Sad day for the 76th Pct. #Blacklivesmatter."

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During a departmental trial on Tuesday, Bishop, who has been with the force for nearly five years, said she didn't remember replying to the post, but later said she meant to write "#Bluelivesmatter," only to have her phone's auto-correct feature change what she typed to "#Blacklivesmatter." Her attorney said she posted the comment three times, using #bluelivesmatter twice.

It's unclear what policy in the NYPD's social media guidelines Bishop is accused of breaking. The latest publicly available social media policy was issued in 2013 and states that officers are urged not to disclose that they are members of the department. Department members are also not allowed to post on official department social media accounts without authorization, although the language in the policy seems to refer to posting from official social media accounts, which what Bishop's lawyer argued.

“She can reply to a tweet just as the 500 million others who use Twitter can," attorney John Tynan said.

The 76th precinct's integrity control officer argued a picture on Bishop's since-deleted Twitter page was the same one used on her Facebook page, which identified her as a police officer, the Daily News said.

The rise of Black Lives Matter, the social movement formed in response to police shootings of unarmed black men, has created heated debates about law enforcement, and these debates have at times prompted police to make ill-advised comments on social media that have resulted in discipline or even the loss of employment. Typically, however, police grabbing headline for comments that were against Black Lives Matter.

In October, a police officer in Tupelo, Mississippi, was fired after he referenced Black Lives Matter in a post and later said, "Sometimes you have to use profanity and threaten a persons well being to get their attention; sometimes you have to kill them."