There is legal trouble for the Honolulu Police Department and it’s official Facebook page.
Two men who have been openly critical of HPD have filed a federal court lawsuit claiming their freedom of speech was violated.
The lawsuit may be the first of its kind in the nation that involves deleted posts from a public Facebook page.
HPD Facebook lawsuit
The Honolulu Police Department’s Official Facebook page has 5,568 likes.
But, two Hawaii residents are not fans after alleging HPD banned them from participating in discussions on the site.
"If we choose to use a public forum as HPD even claims themselves their Facebook was then they have no reason deleting those comments,” said plaintiff Christopher Baker.
Baker, Derek Scammon and Hawaii Defense Foundation are named as Plaintiffs in a federal court lawsuit against HPD, and Captain Andrew Lum who is in charge of the site.
Baker claims that his and others comments on the site were removed and their profiles banned from discussions in violation of the 1st amendment.
"We’re not on there yelling fire on Facebook for no reason, but if we wish to criticize somebody or their actions they shouldn’t be able to delete that and pretend it’s never happened,” said Baker.
Open forum
Baker’s attorney says HPD’s Facebook page was created to be a "forum open to the public".
"The Supreme Court has said you don’t really have to have a physical location in order to exercise speech, so this is not a physical location but certainly this is an outlet for people to discuss whatever they want to discuss,” said Richard Holcomb, attorney for plaintiffs.
Baker says he was given no explanation for the ban or the censorship of his comments.
"When tax payers are paying for somebody to moderate or use a page it’s not theirs it’s ours it’s the peoples we own that speech we own everything that’s being done there,” said Baker.
Removing posts
HPD has stated it reserves the right to remove any post or comment on its Facebook site and told Baker in a post he "had a history of using defamatory terms" in his comments and so his "comments have been deleted".
"In terms of derogatory, defamatory you can’t defame government agency it’s just not possible, so if we want to talk bad about the police department or if another citizen does we have that right,” said Baker.
Baker says the lawsuit is not about money.
Instead he wants his posts restored and be allowed to participate again in discussions.
The Honolulu Police Department says it does not comment on pending litigation.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
