Interesting that right after a post here on Sticks where Peter comments about leoaffairs.com, the Times reports that Sheriff Gee has taken notice of the postings as well. This was first reported by tommy in September.
“…Gee also won a partial victory in court, getting a judge’s okay to subpoena the local law enforcement chat board site LeoAffairs.com, where Gee says some of his deputies are violating department policy by anonymously posting racist and sexist comments. “
then
“Relations are less amicable between sheriff’s administrators and the operators of LeoAffairs.com.”
The Sheriff’s Office filed suit against the chat site, run by retired and current Tampa police officers. Through subpoena, Gee and chief deputy Jose Docobo want to identify those deputies who left false, crude and revealing messages about the agency and its investigation of missing baby Sabrina Aisenberg.
Gee says the publicly accessible site harms morale, undermines public trust and weakens internal discipline. Site founders say the First Amendment protects its users.
One judge denied the Sheriff’s Office’s request to find out the identities of message board users who criticized the agency’s handling of the Aisenberg case. Another judge granted Gee’s request to determine the identities of those posting racist or homophobic messages and messages that discuss pending criminal investigations.
Gee promises that when he learns who the deputies are, he will discipline them.
Of course seeing as HCSO was sued by the Aisenbergs, maybe they are looking to exact some revenge on Deputies that might have shot their mouths off.
Here is an example: a Google search for “aisenberg lawsuit” finds this sptimes story on the leoaffairs site.
…In court Friday, sheriff’s attorneys introduced a page-long message from an anonymous poster who wrote about Steven and Marlene Aisenberg’s lawsuit. The Aisenbergs had been charged in the case of their missing daughter, but federal prosecutors eventually dropped the charges.
The poster, who used the pseudonym “She Devil,” wrote that the Sheriff’s Office “will be writing a check and a big one” in the civil case.
“The shame of it is we will never know the real truth, because of our screwups,” the message said.
Editengine
4 years ago
It is worth noting is his defense that Gee has amassed a rep for being meticulously fair in his dealings with rank and file deputies to my understanding. His stated reason for wanting to know who “she devil” is is so he can discuss facets of the case that he might not be aware of. In other words he might want details on the screw ups she is talking about.
CT
4 years ago
Actually, leoaffairs.com was a known quantity a long time before Tommy came across it:
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/05/01/news_pf/Southpinellas/Police_administrators.shtml
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/01/15/Hillsborough/Officers_work_as_bad_.shtml
Not to take anything away from Sticks, but come on — ease up on the hype.
Rachel*
4 years ago
News Flash! News Flash! Cops are troublemakers in their own right, and they rarely understand the complexities of the rules they enforce! You heard it here first!
Nothing about this post surprises me. Ugh, and the spelling on that leoaffairs is atrocious.
tommy
4 years ago
hell, before I started blogging, even.
Editengine
4 years ago
No CT I am sorry, news did not begin until SoF was born. You are to be re-educated.
Chip DeBlock
4 years ago
As a co-founder of LEOAFFAIRS.COM(tm), I think I’m in a unique position to clarify some points.
First, (sorry Gee Whiz and Editengine) CT is absolutely CORRECT! Not only has LEOAFFAIRS.COM(tm) been around since October of 2002, but we’ve been in the press practically ever since our inception. In fact, articles about the HCSO’s lawsuit appeared on MSNBC, the St. Pete Times and the Tampa Tribune on 08/03/05 and 08/04/05 (a full month before Tommy’s post.
Second, while I respect Editengine’s complimentary tone towards the Sheriff, there is some information you are apparently unaware of. The “angle” of obtaining She Devil’s IP information due to the Aisenberg case only surfaced AFTER we refused to turn the information over to the Sheriff’s Office on other grounds. Personally, I had always liked David Gee, met him at my church and voted for him to be our sheriff. This ordeal has left me with mixed feelings and disappointment.
Third, I have to disagree with Rachel. Cops not only have to understand the complicated statutes that they enforce, but they have to explain them to laymen in simple terms on a daily basis. Most attorneys I know can’t do that. If a cop can’t do that efficiently, he could be out of a job.
Fourth, I’m not sure what Rachel meant about spelling. If she means the spelling of thousands of users on our 100+ Message Boards, that’s simply a fact of life. If it’s spelling errors on our website, we’re pitching in and getting our web designer a spellchecker. If it’s the name of LEOAFFAIRS.COM, it was designed so that the general public would not know what it stood for.
Thanks for the opportunity to post. Nice site!