The daughter of a New Jersey State Police sergeant was discovered dressing as Adolf Hitler and saying anti-semitic remarks on social media, reported the Asbury Park Press. Although her actions were offensive, authorities said she was not any threat.
“There was never any danger being posed to the community,” said Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Al Della Fave. “It didn’t rise to anything criminal.”
This is more than likely just some knuckleheaded teenager who’s getting her kicks by using social media to post inflammatory pictures and statements. Perhaps it’s just a weak, unthoughtful means to attract attention and seem edgy. However, police probably didn’t conduct a thorough investigation, which they should have.
Della Fave noted that the teen’s “connection to law enforcement afforded her no special treatment.”
“That would not be something that would be a determining factor,” said Della Fave. “That has no bearing on the case. Everything was evaluated at face value. We have been assured by the families and the school that this is something that will be handled.”
The teen posted pictures of herself dressed as Hitler and sent tweets saying things like “I really wanna drive around Lakewood and run over every Jew with my car.” Although, the teen was deemed a non-threat, civil liberties advocates point out a clear and present double standard.
“If it had been a Muslim, this almost certainly would have been handled differently,” said Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “If it’s associated with Muslims, it will be viewed as terrorism. If not, it will be viewed as something random and weird.”
Hooper is correct in pointing out that double standard. Had the teen been a Muslim saying similar things about Jews, threat or non-threat, there would be an all out investigation. The FBI would be called in, the teen, and her family, would be heavily scrutinized.
The authorities should have done more investigating instead of being so quick to chalk this up to a wayward teen doing stupid things. Although, while that may be the reality, the double standard indicated by Hooper is accurate. We also don’t know what role or influence the teen’s father had on the investigation. Chances are that we’ll never know.
What we do know is that there is a double standard, and law enforcement usually tends to look out for their own.
