By WECT Staff | June 2, 2020 at 4:32 PM EDT – Updated June 2 at 5:39 PM
BOLIVIA, N.C. (WECT) – The Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office has fired a detention center employee over an “inappropriate” social media post.
In a statement on Facebook Tuesday afternoon, Sheriff Jon Ingram said he and Internal Affairs were immediately alerted to the post — which involved the recent protests across the country about the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis — and terminated the employee.
“While we know all of our staff represent the Sheriff’s Office, we want to make it clear that the post in question does not reflect our vision, nor our core values,” Ingram stated.
Details of the social media post and the identity of the employee weren’t immediately available.
Ingram said the sheriff’s office has an explicit policy involving employees’ activities on social media.
“Employees are prohibited from posting, broadcasting, or otherwise disseminating any sexual, violent, racial, ethnically derogatory material, or comments, pictures, artwork, video or other references on their website or through any other medium of communication,” he stated.
“Freedom to express one’s thoughts and opinions on social media is everyone’s right. However, as a representative of law enforcement and the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office, we are held to a higher standard and we take that very seriously. Our sincerest apologies for the actions, of this now former, employee.”
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