When you don’t use good judgment about what you’re posting online, there are consequences. Just ask the New Bedford, Massachusetts police officer who is currently under suspension for posting pictures of a crime scene to her Facebook page.

According to the Boston Herald,

“New Bedford police spokesman Lt. Jeffrey P. Silva said the picture – if it is authentic – may depict an overdose victim. It is unclear whether the person is a man or woman.

[...]

Posting pictures from a crime scene on the Internet violates departmental policy. The penalties could range from suspension to termination.”

While you could chalk this up to one officer’s poor judgment, the Boston Herald article also mentions a story from last year involving another New Bedford police officer.

Last year, New Bedford Police Officer Norman Duchesneau was suspended after police verified that he posted a picture of himself in uniform under the “casual encounters” section of Craigslist. The ad sought out women interested in “friends with benefits-type relationships” who was “willing to play out police fantasy.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen officers and other individuals display poor judgment at crime scenes. Over the summer a New York EMT faced misdemeanor charges for sharing a picture of a murder victim on Facebook. Before that, there was the tragic story of Nikki Catsouras, whose fatal car accident photos spread across the web after a California Highway Patrol dispatcher shared the images online. A civil case filed by the Catsouras family, who experienced significant traumatic harrassment as a result of the phots, against the California Highway Patrol was dismissed in 2008.

Hopefully, police departments and other agencies across the country are taking these situations into consideration when training new officers. Although they command a greater level of authority than the rest of us, law enforcement officers are just as prone to make mistakes online. The fact that they are held to a higher professional standard as public servants only makes it more important that they take time to consider what they should and should not post on the web.