美国国家公共电台 NPR 72 Philadelphia Police Officers Placed On Desk Duty Over Offensive Social Media Posts

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

In Philadelphia, more than 70 police officers have been taken off their regular duties patrolling the city's streets. Philly is dealing¹ with a scandal over the release of thousands of offensive social media posts by police officers around the country. Police officials there say they're hoping to contain the damage that was done to public trust. Here's NPR's Bobby Allyn.

BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE²: Earlier this month, an advocacy group called the Plain View Project published thousands of Facebook posts by police officers in eight cities. In Philadelphia, 330 active officers were found to have publicly posted racist³ memes, Islamophobic messages, comments celebrating violence and other offensive material. Philadelphia Police Commissioner⁴ Richard Ross, who's usually mild-mannered, sounded downright angry talking about it to reporters.

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RICHARD ROSS: It makes me sick, to be honest with you. It really makes me sick because we are in a position to know better.

ALLYN: As the city's internal affairs investigates, Ross says he has placed 72 officers on desk duty. He says it's the largest removal of police from the streets in recent memory. Ross says some of the posts were so bad that he's planning to discipline dozens and fire several on the force.

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ROSS: In many ways, you know, we understand how this can tarnish⁵ or did tarnish our reputation. But we will work tirelessly to repair that reputation, to improve police community relations, as we are equally disgusted.

ALLYN: While Ross was direct about his disapproval⁶ of the posts, he also wanted to make another point. The database flagged some 300 officers out of a force of 6,500.

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ROSS: To assume that everybody is a racist, and everybody is Islamophobic, and everybody is a sexist and all the other things - 'cause they're not. That's just the reality. We are proud of the men and women in this organization. They come to work. They work hard. And they do it in a city that is not easy to do it in.

ALLYN: Paul Hetznecker has been a criminal defense⁷ lawyer in the city for more than 30 years. He says the Facebook message scandal is a new reminder⁸ of an old problem.

PAUL HETZNECKER: We're all aware of it. There's not anyone that hasn't been connected to the criminal justice system in Philadelphia that isn't aware of the underlying⁹ problems of implicit¹⁰ bias¹¹ and explicit¹² biases¹³ these posts reflect that have existed for a long, long period of time, for decades.

ALLYN: Commissioner Ross says, following the data dump, new anti-racist and anti-bias training will be launched department-wide. And officials will issue reminders¹⁴ about police social media policy, which prohibits profanity, discriminatory language or personal insults. Bobby Allyn, NPR News.

1 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

4 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

5 tarnish   

n.晦暗，污点；vt.使失去光泽；玷污

参考例句：

• The affair could tarnish the reputation of the prime minister.这一事件可能有损首相的名誉。
• Stainless steel products won't tarnish.不锈钢产品不会失去光泽。

6 disapproval   

n.反对，不赞成

参考例句：

• The teacher made an outward show of disapproval.老师表面上表示不同意。
• They shouted their disapproval.他们喊叫表示反对。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

9 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

10 implicit   

a.暗示的，含蓄的，不明晰的，绝对的

参考例句：

• A soldier must give implicit obedience to his officers. 士兵必须绝对服从他的长官。
• Her silence gave implicit consent. 她的沉默表示默许。

11 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

12 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

13 biases   

偏见( bias的名词复数 )； 偏爱； 特殊能力； 斜纹

参考例句：

• Stereotypes represent designer or researcher biases and assumptions, rather than factual data. 它代表设计师或者研究者的偏见和假设，而不是实际的数据。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• The net effect of biases on international comparisons is easily summarized. 偏差对国际比较的基本影响容易概括。

14 reminders   

n.令人回忆起…的东西( reminder的名词复数 )；提醒…的东西；（告知该做某事的）通知单；提示信

参考例句：

• The film evokes chilling reminders of the war. 这部电影使人们回忆起战争的可怕场景。
• The strike has delayed the mailing of tax reminders. 罢工耽搁了催税单的投寄。