HILLSBOROUGH SHERIFF SUING TO ID MESSAGE BOARD POSTERS

This morning's Tampa Tribune reports that the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has filed a lawsuit seeking to identify several persons it says are deputies who have posted on an Internet message board.

The litigation seeks to bar anonymous deputies from posting messages on www.leoaffairs.com, which identifies it's mission as serving as a sounding board between law enforcement agencies and it's officers.

According to the story:

Some of the postings copied in the lawsuit include vulgar references about women using sex to gain promotions. Other comments are pointed more toward the top ranks.

"The sheriff doesn't know what's going on,'' according to one anonymous comment in the lawsuit. That post also calls the sheriff a liar.

"When the top no longer tolerates staff members having mistresses in the ranks, perhaps some things will change,'' another posting says.

Chief Deputy Jose Docobo said those comments and similar comments on the site were posted by liars. Still, he said, they are milder than others. Docobo said postings have included deputies bragging about using Tasers to force confessions from black suspects.

"They deleted those before we could get copies of them,'' Docobo said.

Through the lawsuit, the sheriff's office is making moves to identify the anonymous deputies. Should they be identified, Docobo said, they will be disciplined, up to and including termination.

Sheriff David Gee said he needs to know if he has any "loose cannons'' on his force.