Who is Michael Hamill? 'Hot Cop' Resigns Over Alleged Anti-Semitic Posts
An officer with the Gainesville Police Department (GPD), Florida, accused of making anti-Semitic Facebook posts and having a physical relationship with a woman while on duty, resigned from his post on Dec. 6. Michael Hamill was under suspension since September.
The decision came just when the Internal Affairs department was to interview him regarding the allegations.
Born as Michael Gordon Hamill, the officer joined the GPD in 2016. He got married in March.
Hamill rose to fame as one of Florida’s “hot cops” after the GPD posted a selfie of the officer along with two other officers on its's Facebook page early September. The picture was posted to recognize the officers who helped the community during and after Hurricane Irma hit the state.
Though the selfie was later removed from the department’s Facebook page, according to a report in the Gainesville Sun, the post received 181,000 comments, 517,000 likes, and was shared 276,000 times.
According to a report in TIME, Hamill’s wife, in the beginning, did not like the sudden unexpected fame her husband was gaining. Hamill told the publication, “My wife, she obviously wasn’t happy at first, but she’s taking it like a champ.”
However, a few weeks after the selfie post, the department started receiving complaints against the officer.
GPD spokesman Ben Tobias said in a statement that the Internal Affairs department was investigating the officer for both allegations of anti-Semitic comments on Facebook and whether the officer had any physical affair while on duty, the Gainesville Sun reported.
According to the report, Hamill he had written some anti-Semitic posts on his Facebook page long before joining the police department.
In April 2011, Hamill wrote on his Facebook page, “so I find it funny that people will talk about how our government needs to do something about our economy and in reality it’s YOU who needs to stop taking advantage of our system and get a life and do something with your life. Gotta love reality when it hits you in the face. Stupid people annoy me. Put them in an oven and deal with them the Hitler way. Haha.”
In another post in April 2013, he wrote, “Who knew that reading jewish jokes before I go to bed would not only make me feel better about myself but also help me to sleep better as well. Here is one for everybody, ‘What’s the difference between boy scouts and jews?’ Anybody know? Well it is because ‘Boy scouts come back from their camps.’”
The Investigators found the posts to be offensive and said such posts not only affect an officer's capability but also damages the reputation of the police department, reported the Gainesville Sun.
Investigators also found that Hamill had sex with a woman while he was on duty. Hamill had met the woman while he drove her home as an Uber driver, which was yet another violation of the department’s order against outside employment.
According to a report in the USA Today, Tobias, in an email, affirmed that any misconduct by an officer is taken “extremely seriously” by the GPD.
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