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Police sergeant fired for having a Confederate flag in front of her house
By Sarah Larimer August 2 at 5:30 AM
The complaint came in July, from a man who said he drove by a Georgia home and spotted the flag flying out front.
It was a Confederate flag, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, and a Roswell Police Department officer lived at the home.
according to the newspaper. “But in the same sentiment if I were to ever be pulled over or some situation where my family needs the police to protect and serve, my first thought/fear is that it may be the officer proudly flying his/her Confederate flag.”
The Journal-Constitution reports that the officer who lives in the home, Silvia Cotriss, has since been fired from her job as a police sergeant. She told the newspaper that she didn’t realize that some found the flag to be offensive; she’ll reportedly appeal the termination.
“If I knew it offended someone, my friends, my family, I wouldn’t do it,” Cotriss told the Journal-Constitution, which got a copy of her case file. “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.”
Roswell’s police chief, Rusty Grant, told the newspaper that the department doesn’t comment on personnel matters. Grant did not immediately reply to an email from The Washington Post on Monday.
Cotriss’s firing comes about a year after a shooting that left nine dead at a historic African American church in Charleston, S.C. The accused gunman in that June 2015 massacre, Dylann Roof, had posed in photos with the Confederate flag and other Confederate images.
[Dylann Roof’s racist manifesto: ‘I have no choice’]
It has also unfolded at a time of increased tensions between law enforcement and civilians nationwide. The fatal police shootings of two black men inLouisiana and Minnesota last month sparked unrest and again prompted questions about the use of force, and the fatal shooting of officers in Dallasstoked fears about the dangers police face.
Crowd cheers as South Carolina removes Confederate flag
Play Video2:08
The South Carolina state government held a ceremony to take down the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds July 10 (AP)
According to the Journal-Constitution, authorities who questioned Cotriss asked her “why she would have or allow the Confederate flag to be flown, especially in today’s environment.”
The newspaper reported:
“Cotriss explained that the flag was part of her history, part of the South, part of history involving the Civil War. She denied having negative feelings regarding the flag,” according to the report.
And when the detectives told her that the flag had been a symbol used by Dylann Roof, who [is accused of executing] nine African American church worshippers in Charleston, S.C., according to the report, she said she was “not aware of its relation to the shooting.
“Cotriss was asked as a police officer, how could she not have known about the Confederate flag and its negative connotations,” according to the report. “She said that she was unaware until the investigator brought it to her attention.”
Grant had previously attended a service at a predominantly African American church in the area, on the invitation of a pastor, who reportedly reached out after the Dallas shootings. Grant has told the Journal-Constitution that he has made an effort to visit churches in the wake of protests in Ferguson, Mo., where 18-year-old Michael Brownwas fatally shot by an officer in 2014.
The person who came forward about the flag made a reference to that service, according to the newspaper. He also claimed that Cotriss’s police car was parked outside at the time he spotted the flag. That point is disputed by Cotriss.
Cotriss told the newspaper that she took the flag down after learning of the complaint, though she reportedly also didn’t know that some found it offensive.
“Cops don’t watch the news because we live it in the day and don’t want to see it again at night,” Cotriss told the Journal-Constitution
Police sergeant fired for having a Confederate flag in front of her house
Police sergeant fired for having a Confederate flag in front of her house
By Sarah Larimer August 2 at 5:30 AM
The complaint came in July, from a man who said he drove by a Georgia home and spotted the flag flying out front.
It was a Confederate flag, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, and a Roswell Police Department officer lived at the home.
according to the newspaper. “But in the same sentiment if I were to ever be pulled over or some situation where my family needs the police to protect and serve, my first thought/fear is that it may be the officer proudly flying his/her Confederate flag.”
The Journal-Constitution reports that the officer who lives in the home, Silvia Cotriss, has since been fired from her job as a police sergeant. She told the newspaper that she didn’t realize that some found the flag to be offensive; she’ll reportedly appeal the termination.
“If I knew it offended someone, my friends, my family, I wouldn’t do it,” Cotriss told the Journal-Constitution, which got a copy of her case file. “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.”
Roswell’s police chief, Rusty Grant, told the newspaper that the department doesn’t comment on personnel matters. Grant did not immediately reply to an email from The Washington Post on Monday.
Cotriss’s firing comes about a year after a shooting that left nine dead at a historic African American church in Charleston, S.C. The accused gunman in that June 2015 massacre, Dylann Roof, had posed in photos with the Confederate flag and other Confederate images.
[Dylann Roof’s racist manifesto: ‘I have no choice’]
It has also unfolded at a time of increased tensions between law enforcement and civilians nationwide. The fatal police shootings of two black men inLouisiana and Minnesota last month sparked unrest and again prompted questions about the use of force, and the fatal shooting of officers in Dallasstoked fears about the dangers police face.
Crowd cheers as South Carolina removes Confederate flag
Play Video2:08
The South Carolina state government held a ceremony to take down the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds July 10 (AP)
According to the Journal-Constitution, authorities who questioned Cotriss asked her “why she would have or allow the Confederate flag to be flown, especially in today’s environment.”
The newspaper reported:
“Cotriss explained that the flag was part of her history, part of the South, part of history involving the Civil War. She denied having negative feelings regarding the flag,” according to the report.
And when the detectives told her that the flag had been a symbol used by Dylann Roof, who [is accused of executing] nine African American church worshippers in Charleston, S.C., according to the report, she said she was “not aware of its relation to the shooting.
“Cotriss was asked as a police officer, how could she not have known about the Confederate flag and its negative connotations,” according to the report. “She said that she was unaware until the investigator brought it to her attention.”
Grant had previously attended a service at a predominantly African American church in the area, on the invitation of a pastor, who reportedly reached out after the Dallas shootings. Grant has told the Journal-Constitution that he has made an effort to visit churches in the wake of protests in Ferguson, Mo., where 18-year-old Michael Brownwas fatally shot by an officer in 2014.
The person who came forward about the flag made a reference to that service, according to the newspaper. He also claimed that Cotriss’s police car was parked outside at the time he spotted the flag. That point is disputed by Cotriss.
Cotriss told the newspaper that she took the flag down after learning of the complaint, though she reportedly also didn’t know that some found it offensive.
“Cops don’t watch the news because we live it in the day and don’t want to see it again at night,” Cotriss told the Journal-Constitution
Police sergeant fired for having a Confederate flag in front of her house
