One of the three “hot cops” in a viral selfie posted by Gainesville Police on Sunday is under investigation for anti-semitic comments he posted online.
The photo of GPD Officers John Nordman, Michael Hamill and Dan Rengering received more than 183,000 comments and 292,000 likes, as of press time, and a tweet from Ellen DeGeneres asking for more photos of the men, who had snapped the selfie before starting post-Hurricane Irma cleanup. Four days later, GPD spokesperson Officer Ben Tobias announced GPD would internally investigate Hamill and review allegations.
Prior to their deletion, Hamill’s personal Facebook page showed that the officer made comments about concentration camps and welfare.
“So I find it funny that people will talk about how our government needs to do something about our economy and in reality it’s YOU who needs to stop taking advantage of our system and get a life and do something with your life. Gotta love reality when it hits you in the face. Stupid people annoy me. Put them in an oven and deal with them the Hitler way. Haha,” read one August 2011 post.
“Who knew that reading jewish jokes before I go to bed would not only make me feel better about myself but also help me to sleep better as well. Here is one for everybody, ‘What’s the difference between boy scouts and jews?’ Anybody know? Well it is because ‘Boy scouts come back from their camps,’” read another post from April 2013.
The details of the internal investigation are confidential until the investigation is complete, Tobias said. As of press time, it is unknown if Hamill will face any repercussions.
Eyal Abadi, a UF computer science sophomore and the UF Chabad director of education, saw GPD’s original post of the “hot cops” and thought the comments were funny. On Thursday, a friend shared Hamill’s posts with Abadi, and he felt disappointed.
“It made me proud to live in Gainesville, but with this, I don’t know,” the 19-year-old said.
Abadi said GPD should conduct better background checks.
“Everyone looks up to the police, and they need to make sure to not let this happen,” Abadi said. “As a university with one of the largest Jewish student populations, we shouldn’t see this happen.”
After the original viral post, Tobias said GPD would meet demands of enthusiastic commenters and release a calendar benefiting Hurricane Irma relief.
“Y’all should do a calendar, where you’re half dressed, for charity….” commented one person.
Angelica Williams, a 30-year-old Gainesville resident who has worked with GPD before, said she thought a calendar is a great idea.
After Hamill’s posts were released publicly, Williams said the calendar should still be made and Hamill should be careful about what he posts.
“It wouldn’t change my opinion about getting the calendar because it goes to a great cause,” she said. “Jewish history is one of those things. It happened. It’s just really not something to joke about.”
