Officer Anthony Venable Fired for Facebook Posting

2/15/2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Officer Anthony Venable, who was decommissioned and assigned to desk duty last July in regard to a post he made from his personal Facebook account referencing a police-involved shooting in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, has been fired.

Deputy Chief Todd Henry made the termination decision following a disciplinary hearing this afternoon.

In the July 7th posting, Venable, during a Facebook conversation, wrote, “Yeah. I would have done 5,” a reference to the number of shots in the Minnesota case. Chief Steve Anderson immediately directed that Venable be decommissioned. His gun and badge were collected and he did not return to street duty between July 7th and today.

Venable had been with the police department for nine years.

*Read Chief Anderson’s letter to Venable notifying him of the results of the investigation conducted by the Office of Professional Accountability.

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Anthony Venable