Officer Narcissus is the supervisor of the sexual assault unit at the Saint Leo Police Department. The unit is made up of male and female officers. Officer Narcissus has a Facebook account which he accesses daily, sometimes from his department computer. On Facebook, Officer Narcissus has posted several photographs of himself, some of which are sexually suggestive. In others, he is dressed in a vampire costume biting the neck of woman. He has also posted photos of himself in his police uniform. He posts his opinions on politics, his gripes about his salary and hours, his sexual conquests, and his dislike of everything the mayor of Saint Leo, who is up for re-election, has ever done or not done while in office.
The Sheriff has received complaints from fellow officers and from the public about Officer Narcissus’ posts. The department’s code of conduct states that officers shall not engage in any activity that reflects negatively on the department.
The Sheriff went into Officer Narcissus’ office and turned on his computer. She did this without the officer’s knowledge. She saw that the computer had been used frequently to access Facebook as well as other social media sites. It was also obvious that the computer had been used to purchase sex toys and hunting equipment. She went to his Facebook page and saw all of the postings. When she was ready to shut down the computer, she clicked on one site that she had not heard of before. It turned out to be a child pornography site and there were photographs of children being sexually abused. The Sheriff wants to bring the officer in for questioning. When she informed the officer of this, Officer Narcissus told the Sheriff that she had no business using his computer to search for anything. Officer Narcissus stormed into the department and began dismantling his computer. The Sheriff and other officers stopped him and cuffed him and placed him in a cell.
The Sheriff wants to know what she should do now. Can she detain the officer? Can she question him? Does she have to give him any rights? Did she have a right to search his computer? For future reference, she wants to know what restrictions, if any, she can place on her officers’ use of social media sites such as Facebook.