Posts on the page, which features scores of current and former Chicago police officers, have gone far beyond boosterism. Some posts encourage police to abuse suspects.

Chicago Tribune / Getty Images A memorial to 17-year-old Laquan McDonald and other victims of violence.

When Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was convicted of murder last month for shooting the black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times and then falsely claiming the boy had attacked him, many civil rights advocates hailed it as a small step toward police accountability in the fractured city. The reaction on a notable Facebook page in support of Chicago police officers was quite different: “Very sad...give the keys to the city to the thugs,” said one person. Chicago Code Blue, where scores of current and former Chicago police officers are followers and occasional commenters, was created two years ago to defend the police force from criticism over McDonald’s shooting. But posts on the page, which has more than 53,000 followers, quickly went far beyond boosterism. Many comments spew racist hate and encourage police to abuse suspects. An exhortation to “Shoot the rhino” appeared on the Facebook page of current Chicago police Officer Sofia Terrones in response to a video of a Philadelphia police officer beating a large black woman. Other posts disparaged victims of police shootings. “Every Thug Deserves a Slug,” wrote one commenter next to a picture of a 16-year-old boy who was shot and killed by Chicago police in 2016 as he was climbing a fence to get away from them.

Screenshots Memes posted on the Chicago Code Blue Facebook page.

Some of the posts by officers appear to be in violation of the Chicago Police Department’s social media policy, which prohibits the posting, displaying, or transmitting of “content that is disparaging to a person or group based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other protected class.” The page illustrates the deep rifts that divide Chicago’s law enforcement from many of the communities that it is charged with serving and protecting. Such pages, which showcase extreme viewpoints, have become an issue of increasing concern in national politics because of their role in spreading fake news, amplifying tensions, and inciting people who go on to commit violence.

Screenshots Memes posted on the Chicago Code Blue Facebook page.

Chicago Code Blue is an example of the phenomenon at the local level. But it has a direct connection to the larger national issues. Its founder, Gary Snow, figured — apparently unwittingly — in alleged Russian attempts to interfere with the 2016 election. In an indictment unsealed in February, special counsel Robert Mueller alleged that Russian trolls tried to use Snow, who was not mentioned by name, to get a flatbed truck that could carry a caged Hillary Clinton stand-in at a 2016 rally for then-candidate Donald Trump. Snow, 41, did not provide the truck, and he was not charged or accused of knowing that he was interacting with Russians. Though Chicago Code Blue has posted video that features footage from the Russian government–backed news agency RT, with mostly white protestors yelling “Fuck the police,” there is no indication of Russian involvement in the Chicago site. But the page is full of the kind of content that Russian operatives have been accused of trying to spread across the internet in recent years: racist, hate-filled, and conspiracy-laden posts meant to sow discord. Code Blue’s administrators claim that Facebook has at times instituted temporary bans on posts on the page. Facebook declined to comment on what, if any, action it has taken against the page. Not all of the comments on the page are derisive or racist. Some users expressed support for Van Dyke’s conviction, and others said it’s up to residents to stem the violence that plagues some of Chicago’s neighborhoods. The most inflammatory comments do not generally come from current officers. A police union spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. In response to questions from BuzzFeed, Terrones, whose page featured the “shoot the rhino” comment, claimed her account was hacked. Snow said in an interview that he launched the page to counter a “wave of negative criticism towards our police officers” and “try to boost the morale, and say, ‘hey, we do support you.’” One of the page’s earliest targets was McDonald himself. Mainstream news outlets frequently flashed a photo of the teen in his red graduation cap and gown. The symbolism was clear: a young life cut down. But on Chicago Code Blue, the photo quickly morphed into a meme with which to mock young black men killed by police. Some Chicago Code Blue users refer to such graduation pictures as “Dindu Nuffin starter kits.”

Family of Laquan McDonald, Screenshot