Bozeman police officer apologizes for his Facebook remarks

On August 19, 2009 · 6 Comments · In Ethics, Social Networking

Cody Anderson, the Bozeman police offi­cer who made some unpro­fes­sional com­ments on his Facebook pro­file, apol­o­gized to the depart­ment and to the cit­i­zens at a press con­fer­ence Wednesday, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported.

Deputy Police Chief Marty Kent:

“We rec­og­nize how frag­ile and impor­tant the pub­lic trust is ... We had an offi­cer who made a poor deci­sion. I hope the pub­lic will not paint the entire agency with the same brush as they have this officer.”

Robert Vanuka, vice pres­i­dent of the Bozeman Police Protective Association:

“This inci­dent has brought dis­credit and embar­rass­ment to all employ­ees of the Bozeman Police Protective Association, the Bozeman Police Department as well as the City of Bozeman ... The actions of just one offi­cer can weaken pub­lic con­fi­dence and cast sus­pi­cion upon our police depart­ment as a whole ... We do not con­done this officer’s behav­ior and it is not rep­re­sen­ta­tive of” the department.

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  • Julie Wood

    This whole story has been sen­sa­tion­al­ized. If the real story ever comes out, the pub­lic will real­ize that Officer Anderson fol­lowed pro­to­col in the sit­u­a­tion asso­ci­ated with the law­suit. Every work­ing day, he is poten­tially risk­ing his life to pro­tect the cit­i­zens of Bozeman and of Montana. It is more of an embar­rass­ment and a shame that the police depart­ment and the city of Bozeman is not sup­port­ing an offi­cer who has been faith­fully serv­ing the pub­lic for years. His per­sonal com­ments on his per­sonal social net­work­ing page should never have been brought into this.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/becker becker

    But his com­ments have been made a part of it now. He acted irre­spon­si­bly by post­ing com­ments like that on his pro­file, espe­cially given his posi­tion as a pub­lic ser­vant. Sure, he has a right to free speech, but that speech has to be tem­pered by the con­text and his own sense of pro­fes­sion­al­ism — a sense that appears to have been cast aside how­ever briefly on Facebook. Regardless of whether the com­ments end up hav­ing a bear­ing on the law­suit, the sit­u­a­tion has opened up a new area of dis­cus­sion: should pub­lic offi­cials’ social net­work­ing pro­files be mon­i­tored? Do those offi­cials really have free­dom of speech on those sites? Where is the line between appro­pri­ate and inappropriate?

  • Fire Cody Anderson

    Wow Julie! Are you from California? I live in Bozeman for a rea­son!! There are some won­der­ful officer’s on the Bozeman Police force who do their job well. You say Mr. Anderson’s ” Personal com­ments on his per­sonal social net­work­ing page should never have been brought into this!” What on earth are you talk­ing about? His whole view is to “Harass and Incarcerate” NOT ” Serve and Protect” and he brags about it! If you have ever been pulled over by Mr. Anderson you would have expe­ri­enced his extreme “Bravado and ego­tism” the law­suit states. This guy makes all the good officer’s in town look hor­ri­ble by staing “we” all over his face­book page....implicating the whole depart­ment. This guy is out of hand and needs to be fired!! You and I have rights that this paid “pub­lic ser­vant” does not rec­og­nize. If I entered a home illegally(which I would NEVER even dream of!), I would be in jail and I would lose my job. But this guy is not being fired? No won­der Mr. Anderson thinks he can do what­ever he wants and abuses his power! If I were you, I would recon­sider what you have posted here!

  • http://www.hypercrit.net/2009/09/03/bozeman-police-officer-resigns-over-comments-he-made-on-facebook/ Bozeman police offi­cer resigns over com­ments he made on Facebook  | Hypercrit

    [...] was in the best inter­est of the city and the police depart­ment. This comes after Anderson pub­licly apol­o­gized in [...]

  • Bozemanpublic

    We as a smart pub­lic whole..SHOULD ques­tion the entire police force...its not just one bad apple..its many!!!

  • Bozemanpublic

    We as a smart pub­lic whole..SHOULD ques­tion the entire police force...its not just one bad apple..its many!!! Think about it....one offi­cer get­ting away with this kind of behavior....other offi­cers LETTING HIM or encour­ag­ing it!! Bozeman police have done a good job...BUT...we should at least check into this alot DEEPER!!