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Memo: Ex-Officer's Web Posts Would Have Cost Him Job

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 24, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - Had he not retired, a St. Petersburg police officer would have been fired for posting degrading computer-altered pictures of police administrators and others on a Web site popular in the law enforcement community, according to a memorandum released this afternoon.

On May 5, Officer Kenneth Kokotek distributed invitations to his May 16 retirement party, identifying himself as "Picasso" in the invitation, the memorandum states. That is the same alias used in numerous postings on the Leo Affairs Web site that "denigrated individuals based on race and gender," according to the memorandum.

Kokotek admitted he posted the computer-generated images, said Maj. J.R. Thompson of the internal affairs division.

Many of the postings have been removed from the Web site, a cursory glance shows, but some remain. In many, the heads of well-known figures have been placed via computer on the bodies of others.

For instance, the head of Assistant Police Chief Luke Williams has been put on the body of someone sitting in front of a half-dozen Budweiser beer bottles at a bar. In another, Gov. Charlie Crist's head is on the body of someone in a picture depicting the old West. In yet another, the head of Mayor Rick Baker is on the body of Ronald McDonald.

In one image, Police Chief Chuck Harmon is presented as a bobble-head.

Kokotek's supervisors noted in the memorandum that the officer's right to free speech does not exempt him from a department policy that prohibits employees from displaying caricatures that denigrate an individual or group based on race or color, among other things.

It could not be determined whether the computer-altered renderings removed from the Web site were more offensive than the ones that remained. The images used as the basis for the decision regarding Kokotek were not immediately available.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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