The Philly P.D.'s Double Standard On Cops Attending Protests

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

A white female Philadelphia detective attended last week's pro-Trump rally in Washington D.C. that turned violent, resulting in the storming of the Capitol Building, and the deaths of five people.

The detective, who was outed by the media, had her gun taken away, and was reassigned. 

And although she hasn't been accused of engaging in any violent behavior, she's now the subject of an internal police investigation after she went on social media and called Vice President Mike Pence a "traitor and a cabal operative and a pedophile."

Sounds offensive? Now here's an interesting comparison. Last summer, a black male lieutenant showed up as a demonstrator alongside Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw at one of the George Floyd protests, which featured three days of rioting, looting, and arson fires, with people torching police cars, defacing public monuments and blowing up ATMs all over town. 

Nobody ever accused the lieutenant of participating in any mayhem. But that same lieutenant went on social media to post an image of President Trump wearing a KKK hood, and then he called Trump a "mother fucker."

In contrast to what happened to the white female detective at the Trump rally, however, the black male lieutenant was never called out by the media, or reassigned by his department, and nobody ever took away his gun.

Anyone see a double standard there? The Philly P.D. doesn't.

The Inquirer reported that on Saturday Detective Jennifer Gugger was removed from her role conducting background checks on potential police recruits at the Police Academy, after an anonymous tip to the department prompted an internal investigation.

The tip was about since-deleted posts from Gugger’s Facebook account placing her at the D.C. rally. Nobody alleged that she entered Capitol grounds or broke any laws, the Inquirer reported, but the detective was reassigned and her gun was taken away.

According to the Inquirer, "Gugger's vitriolic, far right rhetoric on social media" sparked the internal police investigation. Her offense: she called Vice President Pence a "traitor and a cabal operative and a pedophile" after he "condemned the Jan. 6th insurrection and publicly lamented the death of a capitol police officer." 

In the offending Tweet, the detective identified herself as Jennifer Traynor. 

Note the Inquirer was quick to condemn the "Jan. 6th insurrection" and "Gugger's vitriolic, far right rhetoric." But the Inky had no problem with the George Floyd and Walter Wallace Jr. riots and protests. 

The newspaper consistently defended the protesters, consistently attacked the cops, and consistently contended that the protests that caused millions of dollars in property damage were peaceful. 

And as far as vitriolic left-wing rhetoric goes, the Inquirer prints reams of it every day under the bylines of its progressive reporters and columnists. And nobody ever sees a problem. 

Regarding Detective Gugger's alleged offenses, FOP President John McNesby was dismissive, telling 6ABC, "It's cut and dry. She was there, she didn't do anything according to her, and we move on to the next issue."

"She went somewhere on her day off and that's her First Amendment right, to legally gather or do whatever they intended to do," McNesby said. 

Mayor Kenney, however, thought the detective's attendance at the D.C. rally was a big deal, telling 6ABC, "This is not just a police issue. We are looking a few other potentials, in a couple other departments and we'll see what the extent of their activity there was. Hopefully it's just their First Amendment."

Across the country, 6ABC reported, police and fire departments are opening probes into officers who attended the rally. In Seattle, Western Pennsylvania and Texas, officers are under investigation to determine if they took part in the violence.

The always woke Mayor Kenney subsequently released a statement to Fox 29 that said, "We are currently looking into at least one instance of a city employee said to have attended the activities last Wednesday, and we are specifically looking at whether that individual joined in the lawbreaking and violence."

"I sincerely hope that is not the case — I hope good judgment prevailed," Kenney wrote. "But rest assured that should this individual or any city worker be implicated in criminal activity as a result of that demonstration, he or she will be disciplined up to and including termination."

This is the same pandering Mayor Kenney who repeatedly had trouble getting up off his knees during the George Floyd protests. The same Mayor Kenney who repeatedly ordered the cops to stand down rather than defend the citizens and property. The same Mayor Kenney who dispensed with due process, and acted unilaterally as judge and jury, to give 756 protesters who got arrested a free pass out of the criminal justice system. 

The black officer who participated in the George Floyd protests was Lt. Jonathan Josey, the commanding officer of the Crime Scene Unit. He posted an image posted on a since-deleted social media account showing President Trump standing on the debate stage wearing a KKK hood. In another since deleted post, Lt. Jonathan Josey stated as "facts:" "It's not wrong to call this president a motherfucker. It's wrong to call this motherfucker a President."

Last October, when I originally inquired about Lt. Josey, Police Officer Torres of the Police Department's Office of Media Relations/Public Affairs responded, "The department is aware of this and Internal Affairs has opened an internal investigation into these allegations."

When I contacted public affairs yesterday about the apparent double standard between the handing of First Amendment issues involving Lt. Josey and Detective Gugger, Corporal Jasmine Reilly responded:

"There are marked differences between Lt. Josey's investigation, and that involving the detective that was placed on administrative leave earlier this week. Lt. Josey's post was found to be in violation of the Philadelphia Police Department's Social Media Policy."

"The freedom of speech and assembly are both 1st Amendment rights protected by our constitution. However, the events that occurred in Washington, DC traversed that of peaceful assembly when criminal acts were committed."

"Because of the criminal nature of some of the events that occurred at the nation's Capital, the detective that is currently under investigation was relieved of her weapon while Internal Affairs determines whether she was involved in any criminal acts. If, at the conclusion of the internal affairs investigation, there is no evidence of wrong doing, the detective's weapon and full police powers will be restored."

"I also wanted to be clear that the investigation into Lt. Josey's social media posts is still ongoing," Corporal Reilly wrote.

When I asked why Lt. Josey never had to surrender his gun, Corporal Reilly responded, "If during the course of an internal affairs investigation, IAB determines that there was the potential for criminal activity, the officer's weapon will be taken from them, and they will be placed on restricted duty. Of course, as previously stated, once cleared from any criminal wrongdoing, the officer will be given their weapon back and placed back into full-duty status."

Some cops took issue with Corporal Reilly's comments.

"People have had their guns taken away for lesser allegations of wrongdoing, and have been benched," one cop said. 

The Philadelphia Police Department's official social media policy prohibits cops, even when they're off duty, from posting "ethnic slurs, profanity, personal insults," as well as the display of "sexually explicit images." 

So much for the First Amendment. As far as the Philly P.D. is concerned, if you carry a badge, you can forget about your rights to free speech. At least certain types of free speech.

As Big Trial has previously reported, there's a double standard when it comes to enforcing that social media policy, a double standard that's black and white.

Of the 15 cops fired by the Philadelphia Police Department for offensive social media posts, 14 were white males; one was Hispanic. 

Meanwhile some black cops who have violated that same social media policy by posting such comments as "Fuck them racist ass crackers," or portraying "WHITE PEOPLE" as KKK members, or posting nude pictures of the first lady have gotten a pass. 

Over in the D.A.'s office, an assistant district attorney who posted "FUCK THE COPS" on Instagram during the George Floyd riots didn't run into any problems on the job. Neither did another assistant district attorney who repeatedly posted on social media how much she doesn't like white people.

It's a double standard, sanctioned by the media and the mayor, that continues today with Detective Gugger. 

And with others in the P.D. Last night, a poster on social media, said to be a black male highway patrol officer, printed the following note on Facebook:

"All these people getting arrested and losing their jobs for storming the Capitol building are realizing why their grandparents wore hoods."