BDSM RTV MEDIA NEWS!!!!



25 january 2011


"Bondage" photos of cops on Facebook concern Berkley officials


Source: www.freep.com  - Freep.com - USA


USA- BERKLEY-  Berkley city officials said they were deeply concerned with Internet images of some of the city’s public safety officers that appeared on a Facebook page but had not yet decided how or whether to discipline the officers involved.


A Free Press review of the site found that one photo shows officers’ faces, apparently pasted electronically, atop the almost nude male physiques of three men in bondage-style attire, one with body piercings. Another shows a officer in different bondage-style attire. Yet another puts officers’ heads in the place of rock-music stars from the Village People group in a mock version of one of their album covers. The Village People, formed in 1977, originally targeted gay audiences although the group’s music has since gone mainstream.

The Facebook page was called “Squad IV - Regulators,” a reference to the Berkley Public Safety work shift, or squad, to which those pictured apparently were assigned, city officials said.
The images were brought to the city’s attention by Randall Cain, a former Grosse Pointe Park police officer, who said he found the images disturbing.

“As a former cop, this thing scares me. It just raises great concern in me that officers should find this amusing, particularly with regard to the gay references and innuendos. My feeling is that law enforcement is not a game,” he said. City officials declined today to identify the officers involved or discuss what disciplinary measures they might face.

The images were removed from the Internet about Jan. 10, after Cain sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the city asking about them. He said he has not received a response to his request, only a demand from the city for an extension of time in which to answer.

“Obviously, the city does not condone these types of photos,” City Manager Jane Bais-DiSessa said.

“This was a personal Facebook page. The individual is a public safety officer who did this on his personal time. I think we have excellent public safety officers and they’ve done an excellent job, but this is disappointing.

“We have to work with legal counsel” to determine what action to take, Bais-DiSessa said.

Public Safety Director Richard Eshman said he was “not taking this situation lightly,” although the Facebook page apparently was set up as private entertainment for members of Squad IV.

“The problem is (that) the officer who created the Facebook page is not the one who posted the (objectionable) photos. This is cut and paste and other people did that. We are assured of that. We know it came from somewhere else. But obviously, you can’t bring a city or department into disrepute” without consequences, Eshman said.

Mayor Marilyn Stephan said she had not seen the pages.

“What I’ve heard disturbs me,” she said.

Besides the content that concerns city officials and Cain, the Facebook page also contained material that was innocuous and even uplifting, according to a Free Press review on Jan. 7.

There were postings by Facebook friends who were saddened by the death of Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell and by others expressing pleasure at a Sunday barbecue party of Squad IV members. Also there were photos of attendees at various fundraisers and numerous links to news stories about police work, crime fighting, firefighting and incidents of violent attacks on law-enforcement officers. Also displayed were well wishes to families of fallen officers. The Facebook page’s logo was that of a devil holding a piece of pie.

Cain said he found the page during an Internet search under the name of the officer who arrested one of his clients June 15 for alleged drunken driving. The case is not yet settled, he said.