The lieutenant in Florida who wrote two now-deleted posts appearing to offer jobs to officers from Minneapolis, Buffalo, and Atlanta who had been fired or resigned has apologized.
Lt. Robert Gamin, president of the Brevard Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), issued an apology on Monday after his posts on the county’s FOP’s Facebook page drew criticism for being “insensitive” and “distasteful” amid nationwide protests triggered by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
“I let my emotions and frustration get the better of me as a result of all the continually negative media portrayals of law enforcement,” Gamin said, reported WFTV 9 ABC. “My intent was to respond to some of the negative messaging and offer a supportive message to all the men and women in law enforcement. Clearly, I failed doing so.”
The posts, which have since been deleted, suggested that police in Brevard County, Florida, would be willing to hire officers who had been fired or resigned over misconduct, namely those from Minneapolis, Buffalo, and Atlanta, according to CNN.
“Hey Buffalo 57…and Atlanta 6… we are hiring in Florida. Lower taxes, no spineless leadership, or dumb mayors rambling on at press conferences…Plus…we got your back!,” read the first post, which was published over the weekend on June 6. The next day, a similar post was made on the same Facebook page except it was directed at officers in Minneapolis.
“Minneapolis officers…we WILL NOT disband our LE agencies or given in…we are hiring in Florida,” the post read.
Both posts received negative comments, with some people accusing the police of covering for bad officers.
“You supporting police brutality and offering this state as a safe haven for bad cops will not be tolerated,” one of the comments in the since-deleted post read.
Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said the posts were “extremely distasteful and insensitive” in a statement on the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page, adding that the content does not reflect the views of the sheriff’s office as a whole.
“The comments by their members do not in any way represent the views of our agency and were made as individuals who were not acting in the capacity of a Law Enforcement Officer!!” Ivey said. “To be clear, the ‘Brevard County F.O.P.’ page and organization has no official affiliation with the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office and was not authorized in any capacity by me or our agency to recruit or comment on our behalf,” Ivey stated in the statement.
The outlet said authorities are looking to see if Gamin, who works at the sheriff’s office, broke any department policies.
