Facebook Pays California Cop’s Salary

In a first-of-a-kind deal, Facebook will
pay the salary of a full-time police officer to patrol Menlo Park,
California, where the company’s headquarters are located.

The social media giant made a three year, $200,000-a-year offer
to fund a new position on the force, which city council unanimously
approved on Tuesday. The agreement stipulated that Facebook would
have no input in whom the city hired or any other employment
issues, such as discipline, after disbursing the funds. On
Thursday, the city picked eight-year veteran of the force Mary
Ferguson-Dixon. 

Business Insider
writes that Ferguson-Dixon “won’t be patrolling the Facebook
campus — the company already employs a private security force for
that purpose. Instead, beginning April 1 she will “handle
neighborhood issues such as truancy, school and business safety,
and overall neighborhood security enhancements” in the Belle Haven
neighborhood,
notes the San Francisco Gate.

Some are skeptical of the arrangement. NBC
spoke to several communities members:

“I find this particularly concerning,” said Alessandro De
Giorgi, a justice studies professor at San Jose State
University.

Giorgi worries about the ramifications of a private company
paying for a historically publicly paid police officer. And in his
opinion, any money should go to fund education, not police officers
whose job it is to arrest people – especially students – and put
them in jail or juvenile hall.

“I don’t think there is anything ethically wrong with
it,” said Terry Francke, general counsel for Californians
Aware, a nonprofit group that aims to keep governments
accountable. “But I don’t think it’s good government. The
notion is that government services are paid for by everyone. This
comes awfully close to naming rights. So, what will things be
called now, ‘Google City Hall?'”

Yet, while it seems like the multi-billion dollar company could
better invest in the community in better ways that catching
delinquent youths, there’s no reason to bite the hand that feeds:
the $200,000 salary is one less burden the taxpayers of Menlo Park
have to bear.