20-Year Veteran Female Cop Fired After Man Complains About What's In Her Yard
By Dreamer
A Georgia police officer, who has spent 20 years serving on the force, showed up to work last month only to be greeted by detectives. Shocked to find that she was the one being investigated, the department told her that what a man saw in her yard is so offensive that she’s been officially stripped of her badge.
Sergeant Silvia Cotriss was recently fired after a man complained about what he saw in her front yard.
Sergeant Silvia Cotriss, a 20-year veteran officer, was devoted to her position on the Roswell Police Department — that is, until she made the unforgivable sin of offending a citizen’s feelings. In an incredibly brash decision by the Roswell PD, Cotriss was recently fired for displaying a Confederate battle flag in her front yard in Woodstock, not because it was a city code violation but because a grown man was upset over seeing it within his range of vision.
MSN reports that Cotriss had flown the Confederate flag below her American flag in front of her home for 2 years before one man’s complaint to the department resulted in her termination.
On July 11, an unnamed man living nearby reportedly saw the flag waving in Cotriss’ yard as he was dropping his son and daughter off at a local preschool. He then took his offense to Eagle Nest Church, where Pastor Lee Jenkins brought it to the attention of the department. It was his complaint that immediately landed Cotriss in a controversial investigation before she even knew she had done anything wrong.
When she arrived at work, detectives approached her and told her that there was an issue with the flag on her private property. As soon as investigators informed her of the complaint, she took down the flag and explained that she didn’t mean to offend anyone. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough. Police Captain Helen Dunkin told her on July 14 that she was fired because she “engaged in conduct that was unbecoming, which brought discredit to the Roswell Police Department,” according to the NY Daily News.
“If I knew it offended someone, my friends, my family, I wouldn’t do it,” Cotriss said in an interview. “Police officers have to adjust a lot of things in our lives, and for 20 years my whole life has been about making change and being held to a higher standard. We take an oath to help and protect people, so we can’t have a private life that’s really bad.”
Cotriss alleges that she had no idea the flag was so controversial, as she explained that she makes a conscious effort to stay away from the news since her job is already so stressful. “Cops don’t watch the news because we live it in the day and don’t want to see it again at night,” Cotriss explained, adding that she can’t understand why the flag is such a major concern.
The firing of Cotriss also comes amid current tensions between police agencies and residents in several U.S. cities following high-profile shootings in which officers killed or wounded black men.
Cotriss said she and her husband, who died recently, had gotten a Confederate battle flag in May 2015 during a vacation to Panama City, Florida, for the popular biker festival "Thunder Beach." The battle flag had a motorcycle in the center, and Cotriss flew it beneath the American flag on a towering pole in her front yard, the newspaper reports. A neighbor later offered a new battle flag, without the motorcycle, when the earlier one became worn.
In an interview with detectives, Cotriss was asked, "Why she would have or allow the Confederate flag to be flown, especially in today's environment?" the investigative report states.
"Cotriss explained that the flag was part of her history, part of the South, part of history involving the Civil War.
H/T [Blue Lives Matter]
Photo Credit [MSN, Twitter]
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