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Cop shares George Floyd photo in 'Valentine format', captions it 'you take my breath away' as LAPD starts probe

The LAPD has reportedly launched a probe to 'determine exactly where and how the image may have come into the workplace and who may have been involved'

One week after it was revealed that there will be an investigation of the department's response to the demonstrations that had happened after the death of George Floyd, the Los Angeles Police Department is now set to reportedly "probe" recently-surfaced "online behavior". It was reported by The Sun that a "member" of the LAPD posted a picture of late Floyd in a so-called "Valentine Format" sporting a caption that read, "you take my breath away."

Jasmyne Cannick, a journalist, shared an internal mail that revealed that a staff member had shared the post through social media with reports indicating that the LAPD chief was "disgusted" with it. The post, according to The Sun, had come from a member of the LAPD's Harbor Patrol Division.

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An investigation has been launched

The Los Angeles Times reported that Chief Michel Moore revealed on Saturday, February 13 that the LAPD has launched an internal investigation after the photo of Floyd was "passed around" by other officers. Moore further said that the officer who had reported the situation and had made the complaint will be interviewed on Monday, February 15 adding that the goal of the LAPD is to "determine exactly where and how the image may have come into the workplace, online or otherwise, and who may have been involved."

"Our investigation is to determine the accuracy of the allegations while also reinforcing our zero tolerance for anything with racist views," said Moore adding that should the department confirm that the image of Floyd was being circulated by officers, "people will find my wrath." This comes after Floyd died in police custody on May 25 last year after a Minneapolis police officer allegedly knelt on his neck for 8 minutes. Floyd's words, "I can't breathe," made one of the biggest headlines during the Black Lives Matter protests that followed.

The LAPD HQ official Twitter account also spoke about the matter at hand, writing, "The Department has become aware of allegations that an image was being passed around the department and this image was in the workplace. There are also allegations that the post with the image was authored by a department employee." They added to the thread, "A personnel complaint has been initiated and we are pursuing each allegation including interviewing the department member who brought it to our attention." The rest of the thread by the account reveals that the department has not identified "any actual postings in the workplace" and nor have they identified that it was a department employee that had created the image.

Cannick took to Twitter to post an email written by Captain Jay Mastick, tweeting along with the image of the email: "So someone in the LAPD posted a photo of George Floyd on social media with the caption, “you take my breathe away” in a Valentine format. Really? This doesn’t help the situation. I’m curious as to the division and rank of the person who made the post. Holla." As said above, this situation comes one week after it was revealed that the National Police Foundation will "independently evaluate" the response of the department to the protests. The Sun reported that people claimed they were put in "tight handcuffs" and also kept on crowded busses for hours.

Besides this current investigation, the chief, as per the Los Angeles Times, has confirmed that the department is also investigating two Instagram accounts. It has been reported that these accounts could "possibly" be linked to personnel from the department — one of the accounts is called "Blue Line Mafia."