Facebook posts ‘in poor taste,’ says Beaufort Co. sheriff. Top investigator reassigned
The top investigator for internal affairs at the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office has been reassigned after The Island Packet reported controversial posts he had shared on his Facebook page.
After reviewing Facebook posts, which were reported by the newspaper on Thursday, Sheriff P.J. Tanner said Lt. Brian Baird will no longer be conducting internal investigations, according to a statement from the Sheriff’s Office.
“[I]n his evaluation of the Facebook posts featured in the newspaper article, Sheriff Tanner felt that Lieutenant Baird’s posts were in poor taste and, in the interest of ensuring all Beaufort County citizens that their complaints to the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) are handled objectively, decided that moving forward Lieutenant Baird will no longer be involved in the investigation of OPR complaints,” according to the statement.
Tanner determined that Baird did not identify himself on his personal Facebook page as an employee of the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, nor did Baird say his posts were the opinions of the agency.
Baird handled sensitive investigations into allegations of deputy misconduct and wrote detailed accounts of his findings.
“I do not and never have posted personal opinions into a report,” Baird said in an interview on Tuesday. “I put into a report whatever the facts turn out to be. My personal posts on my personal Facebook are just that.”
Baird changed his Facebook page from public to private on Tuesday after the newspaper first inquired about his posts.
Baird said he was unaware that his Facebook page was public, so he took it down until he could reconfigure his privacy settings.
During the summer, his social media posts have ranged from criticizing Barack Obama and his “Muslim Brothers” to stating that officers have a right to shoot armed suspects in the back for running from police.
Facebook marked other political posts from Baird as having partly untrue information or being completely false, as indicated by independent fact-checkers.
Though no formal complaint against Baird was filed, the sheriff has the authority to move employees at his discretion, Maj. Bob Bromage said.
Several other deputies who are trained in internal affairs will now conduct OPR investigations, Bromage said.
“Sheriff Tanner weighed Lieutenant Baird’s constitutional right to freedom of speech with the reputation of the Sheriff’s Office and the concern some Beaufort County citizens may have had with the Facebook posts in arriving at his decision in this matter,” according to his office’s statement.
This story was originally published July 30, 2020 at 5:43 PM.
