SEX OFFENDERS? LRPD EMPLOYEE JUDY LEWIS SAYS "SHOOT THEM" |
On August 16th, a civilian employee of the Little Rock Police Department, Judy Lewis, sent an email to all LRPD employees in which she expressed frustration about answering misrouted telephone calls about sex offenders. Lewis added her personal opinion that way to deal with sex offenders was to "Shoot them!"
About an hour (and a dressing down by her supervisor) later, Lewis sent out another department wide email expressing regret for her unprofessional remarks. Lewis added a sad face emoticon to show how really sorry she was.
It then took befouled LRPD Chief Kenton Tremar Buckner several hours to address the unprofessional and ill advised email.
The investigation that Kenton Tremar Buckner made reference to in his email was completed in record time (usually it takes months to complete an internal investigation, at least it does if an officer is involved) and Lewis will not suffer any consequences for her actions.
Lewis has worked for the city since 1993 and with LRPD since 1995. According to personnel records obtained has no previous history of complaints or disciplinary action.
We are not surprised as LRPD under the Buckner administration has little regard for laws and employees get away with lying, fabricating cases and domestic abuse.
We are not defending any sex offender, nor arguing that Lewis does not have the right to hold any opinion.
What we take issue with is that she used her position as a public employee to express and disseminate her personal opinion. An act that is in violation of departmental rules and of state and federal laws.
This is another slippery slope LRPD is sliding down and we suspect that Lewis is not the only employee that uses city email to express personal opinions and beliefs.
We know that LRPD officers show their support and affiliation with radical right wing racist/extremist groups on their personal social media accounts with little or no consequences from the department. These are the same officers that refuse to live in the city of Little Rock.
It's past time for a change in leadership at LRPD and in positions at city hall.
Change is coming and Buckner needs to move on and allow new leadership to clean up the mess he has made and begin to fix the fractured department to regain trust and confidence in LRPD by the citizens of the city.