Death Threat Against FHP Trooper - FHP Not Willing To Invest

[Unregistered]

On October of 2002 Jim Preston and I founded this site (in part) so that LEOs could talk about work related issues, anonymously if necessary, without the fear of reprisal. I'd say we've been pretty successful because of our unwavering commitment to make this happen. In 2005 the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office challenged us by suing to obtain the IP addresses of anonymous John and Jane Does who posted content they did not appreciate. Jim and I hired First Amendment Rights attorney Luke Lirot and went to battle in order to protect the rights and identities of our users. We fought an intense legal battle over a one year period that went all the way to the 2nd District Court of Appeals, winning every major legal battle along the way. As a result we now have case law on our side not to mention enjoying exposure in The Washington Post and on MSNBC. In 2010 Jim focused on being president of the Florida FOP and I took over LEOAFFAIRS.COM. The policies and integrity that Jim and I instituted in this site remained. In September of 2013, one day after I retired, I was contacted by Bright Mountain, LLC who was interested in acquiring LEOAFFAIRS.COM. Over the next few months we met and had many discussions. Kip Speyer (President & CEO) and Todd Speyer (Director of Business Development) were instrumental in making this acquisition possible. To be honest, we had high expectations of each other and certain demands that had to be met. They wanted me to stay on and keep running the site for them so that nothing changed. I wanted to ensure the continued protection of our users, preservation of our format and the continued presence of Mod 1 (11 years as a moderator, 9 years as Mod 1). We all agreed and on January 2, 2014 it became official.

My vision for the future of LEOAFFAIRS.COM is being met quicker, perhaps even better, because of the resources of Bright Mountain. They have upgraded our message board software, vastly improved the news content on our website and they have programmers & content writers. It’s a big operation and the users benefit tremendously. There are always those who would seek to find fault with an international law enforcement officers’ site that has over 500 agencies in 18 countries online, but it's bound to happen.

My role with Bright Mountain (the new owners) is as a private contractor and that ends after 2016. Realistically, although I feel that I still play an important role, protection of our users is done at the corporate level (where subpoenas arrive) now. Not everyone has the same tolerance for playing hardball with sheriffs, police chiefs and state attorneys like Jim and I do. So, while I received assurances from Kip and Todd Speyer that they would continue to protect our users, it is still my recommendation to be very careful with what you post because you are ultimately responsible for what you write.

The above post (4/2015; edited 8/2018) from cofounder Chip on the main message board reminds us Chip's contracting term ended in 2016 - and you should always be "very careful with what you post because you are ultimately responsible for what you write."

[Unregistered]

Get out there and write some good tickets guys!