Former Tracy Police Department Employee Under Investigation For Posting Threats Against Activist Shaun King
TRACY (CBS13) — A former Tracy Police Department employee is being investigated after he posted a threatening comment in a private Facebook group of California law enforcement. The group was discussing plotting to kill prominent activist and journalist Shaun King.
King made the posts public Thursday, showing comments plotting his own death. Some read, "Need a Sniper," and "Toss this guy from a helicopter."
Former Tracy PD employee Billy Dishman commented, "Let's get it going... I'm in," in response to threats of killing Shaun King.
Outside his Ripon home, Dishman would not talk with CBS13 about participating in threats online. His neighbors were shocked to learn he was one of the members of a private Facebook group of California law enforcement officers.
Tracy Police Chief Sekou Millington said members of the Tracy community came to him concerned after seeing the posts.
The police department wouldn't specifically name Dishman, citing their internal investigation, but did say the department took immediate action immediately after learning about the hateful, violent post made by an employee.
"We don't condone the behavior that we saw on Mr. King's Facebook page," said Chief Millington. "We acted swiftly and I think we acted decisively."
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In a press release, the Tracy Police Department said the employee in question is "a part-time professional staff member."
Chief Millington wanted to make clear this employee was not an officer on the street. On LinkedIn, Billy Dishman says he is an Internal Affairs Officer. He lists he was tasked with investigating officer wrongdoing.
"What I can say is that his position is not one that is sworn. He's not an officer, actively enforcing laws within the city. He conducts administrative investigations throughout the police department at my direction," Chief Millington said.
Millington says part of his internal investigation will now be reviewing cases Dishman was involved in.
"Actively looking at the cases he's been involved in, it's not something I've dismissed, it's going to take me a minute to go through them," said Chief Millington.
The police department has also said the FBI has been notified about their investigation.
