If Kenneth Hampton was forced out as Tchula’s police chief by the town’s new administration over his indecorous use of social media, that seems like as good a reason as any.
Although Hampton developed somewhat of a national following for the trash-talking he did on Facebook, it didn’t reflect well on a town that already has a difficult image problem due to its high rates of crime, unemployment and poverty.
It may be true that standards of personal speech are changing as Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media have removed the filters that people once imposed on themselves. There are still, however, some things from which those in public office should be expected to refrain — such as talking like the hoodlums that the police are trying to catch.
Hampton argued that law enforcement is not for Boy Scouts, that if you want to earn the respect and fear of criminals, you have to be willing to get down to their level, at least when it comes to calling them out.
We didn’t buy it then, nor do we buy it with his departure. Talking trash does not a good cop make.
