Policy forbids mention of job on Web sites

References to the Ohio State Highway Patrol must be reviewed before posting.

COLUMBUS — The Ohio State Highway Patrol has forbidden employees from mentioning their jobs on personal Web sites after a trooper posted sexually suggestive photos on her MySpace page.

The policy, enacted July 28, also prevents troopers from posting pictures of themselves or others in uniform and from using the patrol’s “flying wheel” insignia on social-networking sites without permission.

The policy acknowledges that employees have a right to personal Web sites but says that references to the patrol must be reviewed to ensure they do not “cause a lack in public confidence or discredit or disrespect” the agency.

The policy is denounced as a violation of employees’ First Amendment free-speech rights by an attorney for the troopers union and the lead lawyer for the Ohio Department of Public Safety, who counseled the patrol to avoid the action.

“To impose a pre-publication review requirement on anything [work-related] you want to put on Facebook, that is stupid,” said Herschel Sigall, lawyer for the Ohio State Troopers Association. “We’ll challenge that and it won’t prevail.”

In an Aug. 3 memo, public-safety lawyer Joshua Engel attacked the policy as an “overbroad” restriction on employees’ speech rights and suggested it be suspended for further review.

Lt. Tony Bradshaw, patrol spokesman, said the policy will undergo more review to address concerns raised by the lawyers. Other law-enforcement agencies also control employees’ Web-page conduct, he said.

The incident that prompted the ban involved Trooper Jennifer Bosiacki of the Defiance post and Sgt. Joshua Weaver, a member of the motorcycle unit at the patrol’s district headquarters in Wilmington.

An administrative investigation found that while picturing and identifying herself as a trooper on her MySpace page, Bosiacki posted “inappropriate” photos of herself and Weaver.

One photo showed Weaver licking Bosiacki’s navel and another photo showed Weaver “tied up in a sexual nature and partially nude,” the investigation found. Photos of other off-duty troopers drinking alcohol also were found.

Bosiacki, who told investigators that she did not realize the images were public, defended their use. She said they involved off- duty conduct and did not harm the image of the patrol.

Most social-networking sites, including MySpace, allow users to limit their personal pages to authorized users.

Public Safety Director Henry Guzman has recommended firing Bosiacki if she does not accept a suspension and “last-chance” agreement. She is charged with conduct unbecoming an officer, making false statements and violating direct orders by discussing the investigation. Weaver is recommended for counseling.

Sigall said that if Bosiacki does not accept the “last-chance” and is dismissed, he would take the case to arbitration to determine “if [the patrol] over-responded to the exercise of her First Amendment rights.”

A friend of Bosiacki’s, former Staff Lt. Jon Cross of the Piqua district headquarters, was demoted to sergeant for allegedly violating orders not to discuss the investigation with her.