Rogue St. Louis County PD officer posts Facebook rant AGAINST Tamir Rice, 12, shot dead by Cleveland police

By RYAN GORMAN

The St. Louis County Police Department, already under fire for its handling of Michael Brown shooting protestors in Ferguson, posted then quickly deleted a Facebook diatribe against a young boy shot dead by Cleveland police.

Tamir Rice, 12, was gunned down by a white Cleveland police officer last month while carrying an air pistol. The young boy is black. His death motivated St. Louis County police officer Aaron Dilks to post the ill-advised rant online that appeared to blame the boy for the incident, and the backlash was furious.

The Facebook post went up early Thursday morning. Dilks, from the Fenton precinct, was clearly in a hurry to post it to the social network, as evidenced by several errors in both grammar and syntax.

A St. Louis County PD spokesperson initially claimed to have no idea who posted it, and said he had not even read the invective when reached by reporters.

Titled "Kids will be Kids?," it started with the Dilks stating a few "facts."

"On November 22nd, 2014, a Cleveland Police Officer {sic} shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who had his hand on an Airsoft pistol." Rice was actually shot dead the following day.

DIlks, who appears to be the precinct's media relations officer, also repeated an assertion made previously by Cleveland police: "The Airsoft pistol had the orange warning tip removed."

He then qualified the rest of the post: "I do not know all the details of the story."

Dilks claimed the "article" was "not about this a boy losing his life, whether this was a justified shooting or, whether the cops acted too fast.

"This is about the Fenton precinct making residents aware of a 'hot' topic and learning from this incident so Fenton never loses a child's life.

Some of the tips include talking to children about the Rice tragedy, having rules for toy guns "that mirror rules of a real weapon" and restricting children from playing with the faux firearms in public spaces.

Also, Dilks advised parents to make sure the orange tips were not removed from the guns and also that firing them within city limits was against the law same as any other firearm.

The author warned that children playing with toy guns could be approached by police as if they have a real gun, and that "clear communication between your child and police is essential.

"I do hope I am explaining a scenario that will never happen in our area."

The rogue cop encouraged parents to share the poorly-written post with children and for those children to discuss it among their classmates.

"Working together we will keep our community a safe place."

Reaction to the police op-ed was pretty much as expected.

"Delete your very bad account and disband the St. Louis County PD," one person replied on Twitter.

"Remember, kids will be kids, and cops will be child murdering racists," wrote another.

The post came only hours after a failed New York Police Department attempt at community outreach through Twitter.

The NYPD fired off a tweet with the hashtag #WeHearYou just after the Eric Garner grand jury decided against indicting an officer for the 43-year-old's July death while in police custody.

People around the world responded by shooting their mouths off at the NYPD in a virtual protest perhaps larger and louder than the teeming masses marching through the city well into the early hours of Thursday morning.

The St. Louis County PD has since apologized for the disaster, calling it "a misguided communication strategy ... offensive to many people."

Related links:
NYPD's #WeHearYou tweet backfires after Eric Garner grand jury decision
Politicians, celebrities react to Eric Garner grand jury decision against indictment