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No Punishment For Cops Who Altered Eric Garner's Wikipedia Page
By
Maud Rozee
Published Mar 16, 2015
Modified Mar 16, 2015
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NYC Mayor's Office
By
Maud Rozee
Published Mar 16, 2015
Modified Mar 16, 2015
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The two police officers who used NYPD computers to alter the Wikipedia entries on Eric Garner, Sean Bell, and Amadou Diallo will not face any consequences. "They have been identified, I do not anticipate any punishment," NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton told reporters at a press conference today.
The edits, first reported by Capital New York last week, included replacing the word "chokehold" on Garner's entry with "respiratory distress," and an attempt to delete the entry on "Sean Bell police shooting" outright.
Mayor de Blasio told the reporters that "It's a well known city policy that people are not supposed to do personal activities on city computers," and added that the edits were "not authorized," but stressed that what police officers do on their own time, with their own property, is protected by the First Amendment (see Thee Rant).
Commissioner Bratton said, "We are in the process of reviewing our social media policies. Wikipedia would be one where right now we don't have a policy specific to accessing that site." Yeah, or else The Nanny page would be totally inaccurate.
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