Wakulla County Sheriff Charlie Creel spent the Christmas holiday break reviewing an Internal Affairs investigation into five members of the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office posting remarks on social media related to the unrest in Ferguson, MO in November.
On Tuesday, Dec. 30, Sheriff Creel held a press conference with the local media and approximately 50 members of the community in the Emergency Operations Center Conference Room.
During the press event, Sheriff Creel announced that two of the five WCSO members will face additional discipline due to the social media posts and the three other members will not face any additional discipline beyond their recently served paid suspensions.
Undersheriff Trey Morrison received a five day suspension without pay, will be required to attend mandatory diversity training and will be placed on six months’ worth of probation for posting syndicated cartoons that created a negative perception of the agency by the public and were likely to be offensive to African-Americans.
Detective Richard Moon was suspended for two days without pay, will be required to attend mandatory diversity training and will be placed on six months’ worth of probation for insensitive comments on social media following the posting by Undersheriff Morrison.
The suspensions were based on conduct unbecoming a law enforcement officer while in an off duty capacity. Sgt. Eddie Wester, Detective Rick Buckley and Detention Deputy Jeff Carroll were not given additional suspensions. Their comments were not viewed as racially provocative or offensive during the investigation.
Sheriff Creel fielded dozens of questions from the media and the members of the community who attended the press conference. He promised diversity training for all members of the agency and vowed that WCSO members under his supervision will always treat everyone within the community fairly.
“We don’t need to terminate,” the Sheriff said. “We need to educate.”
The press conference concluded approximately one month of an internal investigation. During the time of the investigation Sheriff Creel attended church meetings with the public in an effort to unite the community.
Sheriff Creel told the gathering that he plans to create a Citizens Advisory Committee in 2015 where members of the community can “bring things to me I need to hear.”
“We’ve run up against a hurdle and we’re going to jump this hurdle,” he concluded. The press conference was also attended by agency attorney Wayne Evans.
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