A police lieutenant - who remains on the job during a 20-year career marked by nearly 50 citizen and internal complaints - is being investigated by the Sheriff's Office about whether she is linked to pointedly racist posts on a social media photo site.

An internal affairs case now is open on Lt. Trudy Callahan to determine if she posted objectionable Instagram posts that use racial epithets to deride black people and their lifestyles.

Sheriff Mike Williams said be has seen some but not all the posts. "That is completely inappropriate and completely unprofessional," he said of the Instagram content. "Beyond that we will let internal take that and run with it."

Asked if that type of postings damages the department's image, Williams said they do. "You hit the nail right on the head," he said. "It absolutely is."

He also would not talk about how this kind of case affects the Sheriff's Office relationship with the African-American community or about the specific behavior of officers.

"That's not indicative of what lieutenants in our agency are like and it's unprofessional," he said.

Whoever was using the account "truds137" posted a photo of a blonde uniformed officer in the police zone where Callahan is assigned. The account has been removed, and police wouldn't confirm to the Times-Union if they'd determined who was using the account. Undersheriff Pat Ivey told the Times-Union he believed the account belonged to Callahan.

Callahan declined comment on the story.

Callahan, who is also a board member of the Jacksonville police union, was just re-elected to its board, where she has served as a member since elected to a two-year term in 2013.

New Jacksonville Fraternal Order of Police President Steve Zona said the union would handle the issue internally. "We take any allegations of misconduct regarding a member of our organization seriously," Zona said. "I have just begun gathering facts regarding the matter, but we will not confirm a member's 'social media' identity, and any action deemed appropriate will be handled as an internal matter within our organization."

The Instagram postings include a variety of comments.

In one post describing condoms on sale, the caption beneath a picture taken at a drugstore reads: "I mean are condoms not selling enough in the hood they gotta put them on sale?"

Another is a re-posting of a police composite from another city that shows a man with dreadlocks draping his face and the caption:

"The police really expect somebody to find this n - - - a I know 6 n - - -.-s that look like this."

The image is posted by truds137, who also comments, "I could be a sketch artist."

Another positing shows a photograph of a black man standing in a VyStar bank drive-through while everyone else is in a car. The post jokes about the man needing money for gas.

At a time when relations between African-American communities and police across the nation are strained, allegations of racist behavior by police point to deeper, institutional problems and ethical behavior, studies show.

Serena Parekh, an associate professor of philosophy at Northeastern University who has taught political philosophy related to police, said racism remains embedded in institutions including police departments and jails. "It's bad for the citizens and it is bad for the police," she said.

Ethical standards are much higher for police officers because of their power, and Parekh said standards of nondiscrimination should be applied to all.

Parekh said social media has had the impact of taking what people formerly expressed in private, limited ways and exposing them to the public by broadcasting those thoughts. Posts such as those on Instagram make private lives public, she said.

"In modernity, the two get squashed together," she said.

Parekh said it was appropriate to investigate the posts. "It was not private, it was very much public," she said.

If officers make racist comments on social media, it can erode support for police among those who pay attention to law enforcement, she said.

"If that's the reputation of police, you are going to know that," she said. "They are going to have much less faith."

The investigation is the latest in a history of complaints against Callahan, who was hired in March 1996.

In 2003 Callahan was considered the most complained-about Jacksonville police officer on the force, according to a Times-Union story at the time.

She also had a long list of commendations, including one for saving a woman from jumping off a 19th-floor hotel railing and another for work helping shut down four drug houses. Then there was a suspension for acting irresponsibility with another distraught person. It was one of three suspensions she served.

Seven years into the job she had about two dozen in-house and citizen complaints against her, with 20 upheld, ranging from traffic crashes to rudeness, according to the newspaper account.

At the time, former Undersheriff Wyllie Hodges said he told Callahan she had to change her ways if she wanted to continue to be an officer with the department.

Since then, Callahan has risen through the ranks and was promoted to sergeant in 2006 and lieutenant in March 2011.

She has also accumulated more complaints. She has 49 for her nearly two-decade career, according to her personnel file. Of two dozen complaints since 2003, seven were sustained, according to Sheriff's Office records.

She was given formal counseling for some and two written reprimands, but no suspensions.

As in the past, Callahan also has been commended.

In a September Times-Union editorial about police partnering with the community, editors noted that in a visit to a sheriff's advisory council meeting, citizens applauded Callahan for work she had done with the group.

A copy of the complaint in the social media internal investigation is protected under public records law and will not be available until the case is resolved.

Dana Treen: (904) 359-4091