By ELGIN JONES
EJones@SFLTimes.com
FORT LAUDERDALE — A Fort Lauderdale police officer who tweeted with porn stars, and made derogatory remarks about his superiors on an Internet site is being investigated by his department.
Luis Pagan, a six–year veteran officer with the Fort Lauderdale police department, has been notified that he is the target of an internal affairs investigation into his postings on the social media network Twitter.
He has not been suspended or reassigned during the investigation. Fort Lauderdale police spokesman Det. Travis Mandell confirmed the investigation is taking place but declined to provide details.
However, several sources said it centers on Pagan’s tweeting while on duty and other alleged violations of the department’s social media policies. He has become the first employee to be investigated for his social media activities.
Since November 2010, Pagan has tweeted 3,576 times. He has 84 followers and he is following 184 people. Pagan came under scrutiny after tweeting on Oct 12: “Just caught a couple having sex in their car in a church parking lot. The car was shaking so much I thought it would flip.”
An avid diver, Pagan’s handle on Twitter is SoFlo_Diver. His tweets include exchanges with porn stars and links to nude photos of them. The messages are sometimes raunchy and laced with profanity.
Pagan was also critical of supervisors and people he encountered at work.
“I wonder how a supervisor feels when no one in his specialty unit respects him,” Pagan tweeted about an unnamed supervisor on Oct. 6. That was followed on Oct. 10 with, “He is a racist (expletive deleted).”
He used profanity in another tweet to describe his employer.
“Came to work just got hit with some (expletive deleted). U know what, I say (expletive deleted) the city,” he posted on Oct. 28. “Instead of trying to make a name for yourself trying to hurt good officers u should be worrying about what to do to lower Crime.”
The Fort Lauderdale police department implemented a social media policy for employees in July. While the policy does not prohibit the use of social media sites such as Twitter, MySpace and Facebook, it restricts what employees can communicate on those sites, even while not at work.
According to the policy, employees are not supposed to “utilize any city issued equipment to access personal social media sites, blogs, websites, or public forums while on duty, or while working off-duty details unless required in the performance of their duties.”
One section of the policy states: “The Department recognizes the role that social media plays in the personnel (sic) lives of some Department personnel; however, the personal use of social media can have bearing on Departmental personnel in their official capacity.”
The department recently activated its own account on Twitter.
“It’s a good tool for us where we can disseminate information to the public in real time,” Mandell said. “It’s for official police department business only.”
Twitter has seen explosive growth in popularity. Users can post, or “tweet” as it is known, their messages in 140 characters or less. The site was created in 2006 and now has more than 300 million users worldwide, including celebrities, political leaders, and sports figures.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says it has not seen any increase in freedom of speech complaints over the use of social media or workplace policies that set guidelines. Barry Butin, a Fort Lauderdale attorney who serves on the Broward County chapter of the ACLU’s board, said the city’s policy is “very cautiously written” and does not appear to infringe on employees’ freedom of speech but each case has to be examined individually.
Pagan has been with the department since 2005 and earns $77,771.20 annually. He works in the patrol division and has a good employment history.
There was no indication when the investigation is expected to be completed but it could set a precedent for other employers seeking to deal with the use of social media by workers. Jack Lokiensky, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, which is representing Pagan, said departmental policies prohibit him or Pagan from commenting on the case.
**Pictured above is Fort Lauderdale police officer Luis Pagan
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