Salem Suspends Police Captain For 'Wildly Inappropriate' Tweet

SALEM, MA — The Salem Police Department suspended Capt. Kate Stephens after she posted a "wildly inappropriate" message on the department's Twitter account.

The message, which has since been deleted, was posted Monday morning and targeted Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker. It read "@martywalsh so you issued a permit for 10 of thousands of people to protest but I can't go to a restaurant? You are ridiculous. You and Too Tall Deval are killing this state."

Stephens, 52, of Reading, has been with the department for 24 years. She is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation and a disciplinary hearing.

"The posting of personnel commentary and opinions on the Department’s social media account is not only against our internal policies, it undermines the public trust and confidence that we, as a Police Department, have worked so hard to achieve here in Salem. It is even more concerning that these comments come from someone in a leadership position within the Department," Salem Police Chief Mary Butler said in a statement. "These comments are uncalled for at any time, but they are particularly egregious at this time when the public is questioning the fairness, equity and legitimacy of the police and their actions."

The message came on the same day Boston was cleaning up from Sunday night's unrest. Violent clashes and looting broke out in the city after a day of mostly peaceful protests of last week's death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police. Boston police said seven police officers were injured and hospitalized.

In a statement, Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll said she was "appalled" when she saw the message and ordered an internal review.

"The sentiments that the Tweet expressed do not in any way reflect the values or positions of the department or the City of Salem," Driscoll said. "The City of Salem fully supports the right of every resident to express themselves and their viewpoints through the exercise of their First Amendment rights."

The tweet was quickly removed, and police posted a message saying the earlier tweet was "not authorized" and did not reflect the beliefs of the Salem Police Department. The message also contained an apology to Baker and Walsh:

A second message said the department was investigating how the inappropriate message had gotten on its Twitter page:

Prior to Monday morning's messages, Salem police had not posted to the account since Jan. 18, when they sent out information on winter storm parking restrictions.

Dave Copeland writes for Patch and can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).