A6 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2018
NEWS
Police Facebook post highlights social media challenges
By PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
The Stanfield Police
Department received plenty
of praise for its Facebook
post accusing two sus-
pects of breaking into cars
and stealing cash and cell-
phones. But the posting also
drew accusations of taking
an unprofessional and harsh
tone.
The small town police
department dropped the fol-
lowing post on its Facebook
page Tuesday afternoon.
The Hermiston Herald has
not edited or altered the post:
“THE LONG ARM OF
THE LAW reached out and
grabbed him! Travis Landon
(age 25) and his Hooligan
accomplice decided to do
some illegal shopping this
weekend. (Also known as a
vehicle prowl)
After getting into several
cars, and taking cash and
cell phones, this dynamic
duo headed out of town. Lit-
tle did they know the long
arm of the “Stanfield Police
Department” does reach into
Hermiston! Travis was cap-
tured AND ARRESTED
while parked in Hermiston
sitting in his car by our very
own Officer Marcum.
And if you’re reading
this, Travis’s little buddy,
feel free to take advan-
tage of the Turn Yourself In
Tuesday special our depart-
ment is having today. Free
ride to Pendleton with room
and board included for your
visit! No need to call for res-
ervations! Just stop in.”
The police department’s
post prompted more than
200 shares to other Face-
book pages and more than
400 comments.
Landon, during a phone
interview Thursday, said the
Facebook post caught him
off guard.
Yes, Landon said, officer
Cody Marcum arrested him,
but the officer was profes-
sional throughout, processed
him at the Stanfield Police
Department and released
him. Landon said Marcum
even gave him a ride back
into Hermiston. Then came
the police department’s post,
along with a jail house mug-
shot from four years ago.
“I just don’t think it’s
right,” Landon said. “I feel
like it’s OK for police to use
social media to search for
information, but to publicly
shame someone — I feel it
just isn’t right.”
Landon said he did not
“I just don’t think it’s right. I feel like it’s OK for police
to use social media to search for information, but to
publicly shame someone — I feel it just isn’t right.”
Travis Landon,
subject of Stanfield Police Department’s controversial Facebook post
want to talk much about the
criminal accusations. He
said he gave a ride to some-
one and did not know the
person stashed stolen goods
in his car.
“I basically had nothing
to do with it,” he said.
In spite of friends tell-
ing him to not read the Face-
book comments, Landon
said he does and feels com-
pelled to defend himself —
which he did on the Stan-
field Police post. But he said
he has no answer for how to
deal with the social media
storm, and it now it is affect-
ing and embarrassing his
family.
Stanfield is such a small
town, he said, and living
there as a gay man was hard
enough. The Facebook post
has only made life more dif-
ficult, so he said he recently
took off for a fresh start in
Portland. Besides, Landon
said, he long wanted to live
in a bigger city.
State
court
records
show he has yet to face any
charges stemming from this
arrest, but the Wasco County
District Attorney’s Office
filed a misdemeanor charge
Thursday accusing Landon
of possessing heroin on
Tuesday. He has to appear
in court there Monday for
the arraignment. Landon
said the charge is bunk and
based on a police finding foil
he had previously used for
smoking drugs.
“I’m on day six of being
clean,” he said.
Around 60 percent of the
comments expressed sup-
port for the Stanfield Police
Department,
Marcum’s
arrest of Landon or the post
itself. Bruce Lewis’ post
reflected the majority view:
“Landed Landon, fantas-
tic. Now grab that Hooligan.
None of us enjoy evil doers
shopping in our vehicles.
Well done SPD. Woo Hoo!”
Tiffany Lynn summed
up a lot of the concerns of
the minority: “While fun-
ny...I believe public humil-
iation, like the Puritans
used, falls under cruel and
unusual punishment. And
I agree with the previous
comment that it is unprofes-
sional. Also whatever hap-
pen to innocent until proven
guilty? Bigger mistakes
have been made. And I seri-
ously doubt everyone com-
menting is perfect, let alone
has a perfect record.”
Stanfield police offi-
cer Joyce Wright published
the post. She said the com-
menters supporting the
department tend to be from
Stanfield and Echo, where
Stanfield police provide
services, while the nega-
tive posts are coming from
outsiders, even from other
states.
Creating Facebook posts
are collaborative efforts in
the department, she said.
Typically an officer drafts
a post then two more staff
check it for obvious errors
and to make sure it makes
sense. Wright said Face-
book allows the depart-
ment to show its good work,
ranging from visiting local
classrooms to arresting sus-
pected criminals. She said
the department only posts
arrests of adults and only
posts public information.
And sometimes officers try
to add some humor, she said,
but “we don’t do it with the
intent of publicly shaming
anyone.”
Social media also can
help solve crimes. She said
people view posts and pro-
vide tips to police, which
is happening in this case.
Stanfield police, however,
have yet to arrest the person
Landon was with.
Wright also said the
department’s social media
guidelines follow those
of the Hermiston Police
Department, which has used
ironic humor in its Facebook
posts.
Hermiston Police Chief
Jason Edmiston said social
media can be a good tool or
a slippery slope when police
get too cute.
“I’ll openly admit I
pushed the envelope over
the years in news releases,”
he said, recounting in 2012
when he described a suspect
as a “scourge to society.”
That phrase landed the story
in the Daily Mail newspaper.
So in January, when he
had the department roll out
its more aggressive use of
Facebook, he said he built
in some firewalls. Edmis-
ton is not an administrator
of the page. He said he is
not yet comfortable enough
with social media, so those
duties fall to the lieutenant
and two captains. They also
ask Edmiston to weigh in
before posting statements
that could cause a stir.
Before wading deeper
into the social media stream,
Edmiston said he checked to
see what other departments
did, particularly police in
Kennewick and Pasco.
Hermiston also looked at
case law for what it can
and can not do on social
media. Banning comments
or commenters, for exam-
ple, is generally a no-go for
a public body’s social media
presence.
Hermiston often posts
about arrests made and cases
it’s working, but Edmiston
said the department does not
seek to ridicule or humil-
iate anyone. The depart-
ment includes mug shots
of suspects. Edmiston said
that helps cut down public
records requests for the pho-
tos. News agencies instead
can just take the image from
the post. And the language
in those posts matters.
“We have to be aware
that in court, it comes down
to guilty beyond a reason-
able doubt, and people
are innocent until proven
guilty,” he said. “It’s import-
ant to say yes, even though
we arrested this person, they
are alleged to have commit-
ted the crime.”
Stanfield City Manager
Blair Larsen said he was
“amazed at the response”
the police post drew. And
negative comments aside,
he said “it’s really hard for
me at least to find anything
wrong with it.”
Larsen conceded it could
be seen as public shaming,
but the information is public
and nothing in the post states
Landon or the other person
is guilty of any crime.
“We’re not saying they’re
criminals,” he said. “We’re
just saying this is the fact of
what happened.”
Larsen also defended the
tone of the post. Police work
is hard, often unrewarding
and requires dealing with
some of the worst parts of
society, he said. Officers
should take moments to
lighten up. Larsen added he
does not see anything wrong
with encouraging a suspect
to turn themselves in.
Local defense attor-
ney Kara Davis said police
should be cautious about
what they post on social
media. Their statements can
run the risk of contaminating
potential jurors. But often by
the time even a well-publi-
cized case gets to trial, jurors
don’t remember Facebook
comments.
WORSHIP
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Hermiston
191 E. Gladys Ave , Hermiston OR
Sunday Worship 11am • 541-567-3002
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Rev. Dr. Jim Pierce, pastor
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“Proclaiming the Message of
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Worship Gathering 10:00 am
Children’s Church 10:00 am
567-3013
Re-zone clears way for housing on Diagonal Road
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
The stretch of Diago-
nal Road leading toward
Sandstone Middle School
in Hermiston could some-
day include apartments or
a restaurant after the city
council approved a re-zone.
The 52-acre triangle
between Northeast Eighth
and 10th streets was previ-
ously zoned for light indus-
trial use, but will now be a
mixture of commercial and
multi-family
residential
zones. It is mostly undevel-
oped besides the restoration
business O So Kleen, a shop
and a couple of former onion
sheds.
Clint Spencer, the city
planner, said the industrial
zoning made more sense
when it was put in place in
the 1950s because Diago-
nal Road was a major truck
route and the surrounding
properties did not yet have
housing on them. Now, how-
ever, he said it seemed like
uses such as an auto-wreck-
ing yard were not compati-
ble with the neighborhood.
“Our opinion as staff is
it probably isn’t the high-
est and best use of the prop-
erty,” he said.
Spencer said the planning
commission unanimously
recommended the change
as part of the city’s efforts
to encourage more develop-
ment of affordable housing
in Hermiston. He said the
city has a more than 40-year
supply of industrial land,
according to a recent anal-
ysis, but shortage of viable
places to develop housing.
“What we have is too
much employment land and
not enough residential land,”
he said.
The new zoning, which
the city council unani-
mously approved, would
allow for offices, retail,
restaurants or gas stations
along Diagonal Road and
various types of housing
behind them. Spencer said
if housing were developed
Jennie Road would likely be
pushed through from its cur-
rent stopping point to North-
east 10th Street and extra
roads added.
During its May 29 meet-
ing the city council also
made some adjustments to
the city’s garage sale ordi-
nance, which previously did
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“We’re hoping to do a lot
of education,” Smith said.
Police
Chief
Jason
Edmiston said the city is
looking into creating some
sort of kiosk in one of the
parks where people could
post garage sale signs and
shoppers could have a one-
stop shop to look at. It would
be wiped clean every Mon-
day. He said the city could
also promote a Facebook
page as an alternative to
posting signs around town.
City councilors said
they didn’t want to dis-
courage people from sell-
ing unwanted items and
being able to make a little
extra money, but it was also
important to keep the city
looking nice. Doug Primmer
said he would like to see the
city sponsor a location for
a city-wide yard sale where
people could come together
to sell items in one spot.
Smith said Al Davis, the
new general manager for
the Eastern Oregon Trade
and Event Center, has been
working on creating some-
thing along those lines in
the form of a flea market at
EOTEC.
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not allow any signs advertis-
ing garage sales in the pub-
lic right of way, including on
sidewalks, utility poles and
street signs. Under the new
rules, people can place signs
on vehicles that are legally
parked and not obstructing
views of traffic. However,
the city tightened the time-
line for enforcement, allow-
ing the code enforcement
officer to take action on ille-
gally placed signs after four
hours instead of 96.
City Manager Byron
Smith said people often
place signs illegally on card-
board boxes or utility poles
on street corners, then leave
the signs to blow away or
clutter the street corner.
By working hard to edu-
cate the public that they are
now allowed to place signs
on their vehicles, he said the
hope is that they will go that
route and then remove the
sign after the weekend is
over.
For people who persist
in placing signs where they
are not supposed to be, the
code enforcement officer
will now be able to give peo-
ple four hours to remove the
signs instead of waiting four
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Rather than the jury,
Davis said the bigger issue
is whether social media
pressures someone with a
good defense into taking a
plea deal. Some defendants
might see negative com-
ments on Facebook, con-
sider their case a lost cause
and take an offer when they
should not.
Larsen said government
can interact with the public
in so many ways, but no one
reads a budget document by
choice.
The police department’s
social media post is a way
for government to con-
nect with citizens. Larsen
also said he would talk
with anyone who felt “truly
offended” or wanted to hold
conversations on improv-
ing the department’s use of
social media.
Wright said Stanfield
police have been on Face-
book since November,
and with anything new,
there’s plenty to learn. That
includes the realization that
Facebook means local situ-
ations can become global in
no time.
775 W. Highland Ave., Hermiston
The Full Gospel
Home Church
235 SW 3rd
Phone 567-7678
Rev. Ed Baker - Rev. Nina Baker
Sunday:
Sunday School........10:00 am
Worship...................11:00 am
Evening Service........7:00 pm
Wednesday Service..7:00 pm
“Casting all your care upon him;
for he careth for you.”
1 Pet. 5:7
NEW BEGINNINGS
CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
Worship Service 10:30 AM
Sunday School 9:00 AM
Pastor J.C. Barnett
Children’s Church &
Nursery Available
700 West Orchard Avenue
P.O. Box 933
Hermiston, Oregon
541-567-8441
Seventh-day
Adventist Church
Saturdays
Sabbath School........9:30 a.m.
Worship Service......11:00 a.m.
English & Spanish Services
567-8241
855 W. Highland • Hermiston
Grace Baptist Church
555 SW 11th, Hermiston
567-9497
Nursery provided for all services
Sunday School - 9:30 AM
Worship - 10:45 AM
6:00 PM
Wed Prayer & Worship - 7:00 PM
“Proclaiming God’s word,
growing in God’s grace”
1520 W ORCHARD AVE
Sunday Worship Service
10:30 am Classes for Kids @ 9:15 am
SEEKING JESUS, SHARING LIFE,
SERVING PEOPLE
www.hermistonnazarene.org
LANDMARK BAPTIST
CHURCH
125 E. Beech Ave. • 567-3232
Pastor David Dever
Sun. Bible Classes...................10:00am
Sun. Worship Service..............11:00am
Sun. Evening Worship..............6:00pm
Wed. Prayer & Bible Study......6:00pm
www.hermistonlmbc.com
St. Johns
Episcopal Church
Join Us
On Our Journey
With Jesus.
Scripture, Tradition and Reason
Family service 9am Sunday
N.E. Gladys Ave & 7th, Hermiston
t. PH: 567-6672
We are an all inclusive Church
who welcomes all.
Our Lady of Angels
Catholic Church
565 W. HERMISTON AVE.
DAILY MASS: Monday-Friday
...............................English 7:00 am
Thursday...............Spanish 6:00 pm
SATURDAY:.........English 5:00 pm
...............................Spanish 7:00 pm
SUNDAY:..............English 9:00 am
..........................Bilingual 11:00 am
..............................Spanish 1:00 pm
Offi ce..............................567-5812
To share your
worship times call
541-278-2678
License #188965