NWSF Bullet: Police Release Report on "Myspace" Scandal

As you may remember about a month ago, there was quite a scandal involving some Durham cops and an alleged diss of President-elect Barack Obama. Apparently, some of Durham's finest, allegedly, put some nasty things about Obama on Myspace.

All across Durham, inquiring minds wanted to know what was said and who said it...

Well, today the Durham Po Po came clean with the "official" results of "their" investigation.

http://www.durhampolice.com/news/pdf/081212_1.pdf

Now, we still don't know "who" but it seems we now know part of the "what." (I guess.)

If you remember WTVD broke a story back on 11/12 that started with the headline:

"The Durham Police Department is investigating whether its own officers posted racially charged remarks about President Elect Barack Obama. "

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6500831

The story said that "two" officers were under investigation for allegedly putting the messages on Myspace.

According to the "official" police statement, there were three officers under investigation and it wasn't "Myspace" but Facebook.

Or at least the Facebook page is the one that is talked about in the report.

Is the public getting the real deal or just a sanitized version of what could have been a PR disaster ?

The world may never know unless one of the City Council folks raises the question or WTVD tries to redeem itself by posing some real tough questions, tomorrow.

Now, according to the police department's release, come to find out there was nothing racist about Obama at all on at least one of the "Facebook" pages...

According to the release, some of the statements on the page "included" something about the officer preparing for his "2nd dan " and realizing "that's what we get for passing the 14th amendment." He later said that he meant the "19th amendment" not the 14th.

So, he was dissing women voters not black folks...

(And all this time ya'll thought they had called Obama the N word.)

Excuse the scepticism but NWSF wants to know if that is all there was to it, then why all the hush hush ? Wouldn't it have been easier just to post the Facebook page on the police department's website a month ago and let that have been the end of it?

Also, is there an original "Myspace" page showing Obama in a monkey costume floating out in cyberspace, somewhere ?

I mean, Myspace, Facebook, Bebo they're all the same to me...But for professional journalists who get paid the big bucks to fact check, well....

I wonder if the outcome would have turned out differently if the City Council would have held its own investigation instead of letting the fox guard the hen house?

Oh well, shotty journalism by the media or a good spin job by the police department ?

You be the judge.

NWSF Bullet: Durham Po Po Accused of Racist Obama Message on Myspace

WTVD news is reporting that some Durham police officers are being accused of posting some "racially charged" remarks about Barack Obama on their Myspace pages.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6500831

The reporter, as well as City Councilman Eugene Brown, seemed shocked because with the supposed end of "Racism" via the Obama campaign that this kind of stuff doesn't happen anymore.

Kind of naive if you ask me.

Racism is not something that you can just take off like a dirty shirt.

The story did say that the messages were on the officers' "private" Myspace pages.

Now, I'm not overly concerned about some anti-Obama message on myspace. But when the poster has the authority to kill at will; that makes me kinda nervous.

I have a lot of respect for the Durham Police. Compared to other cities, you really do not hear too much bad stuff about them. However, there is always one in every bunch.

Just my luck if the next time that I'm rollin' through tha hood late at night, the officer that pulls me over for pumpin' my Public Enemy cd too loud will be one of the Myspace militia.