PHILADELPHIA _ Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross announced Thursday that 13 officers would be fired for making racist or offensive Facebook posts, an unprecedented wave of terminations resulting from a scandal that has attracted national attention.
Ross said the 13 officers would be suspended for 30 days with intent to dismiss.
"I continue to be very disappointed and angered by these posts, many of which violate basic human decency," Ross said as he stood alongside Mayor Jim Kenney at a news conference at Police Headquarters.
"We need to move past this ridiculous hate that has consumed this country and has done so for centuries," Ross said.
Ross said the 13 officers would be suspended for 30 days with intent to dismiss.
The firings represent the most significant step in reaction to last month's publication of the Plain View Project, a database compiled by advocates that catalogs Facebook posts made by officers in eight jurisdictions, including Philadelphia.
The dismissals also represent the largest number of officers fired at one time in recent city history.
Ross said last month that 72 officers had been taken off street duty pending the department's investigation into the posts, which were allegedly made by more than 300 active officers. He said that he expected dozens to face internal consequences and at least several to be fired.
Ross has repeatedly said that he was troubled by the posts and that they could undermine public trust in the department.
The police officers' union said last month, however, that it did not believe anyone should be fired as a result of Facebook posts, signaling that it may fight any terminations via its arbitration process.
