It seems a safe bet that social media and police officers don’t mix. With the spotlight shining on abuse of authority and police brutality, people are especially critical of any officer who seems to think they’re above the law. One Washington rookie cop learned the hard way that what you post online can come back to haunt you no matter who you are.

It began with a 38-second TikTok video posted by a police officer who had been on the job for less than a year. On July 1st, 2022, Federal Way police officer Breanna Strauss posted a video complaining about drivers who didn’t pull over for police officers on the highway.

“PSA to everyone out there,” says Officer Straus, “If we’re driving on the freeway in our police car, get the f–k out of the way.”

While that statement is relatively noncontroversial, she goes on to say, “I can go 90 miles an hour. You can’t.” She adds, “If us officers stay behind you long enough, we can find a reason to pull you over. So you might as well get the f–k out of the way.”

These comments have been widely criticized for implying that officers are above the law and can “make up” reasons to pull people over. Reactions online have been nearly unanimous in calling out the double standard between how the police and private citizens are held accountable under the law.

“She got in trouble for letting out their secrets,” says one commenter.

“This is the same department that the police chief rear ended a car while in a police car,” says another. “The reason he rear ended another car was he was texting on his phone. Of course he didn’t get a punishment because he is trained.”

Officer Straus removed the video from TikTok, but the news station KIRO 7 quickly picked up the video and published it online later that day. This triggered an investigation into Straus.

“We have viewed the social media video posted by Officer Straus and can assure you that it does not represent the core values and practices of our police department,” read a statement from the Federal Way Police Department given to KIRO 7 news. “The matter is currently being investigated administratively for policy violations and appropriate personnel actions will be taken.”

The investigation concluded on July 7th after 6 days. The department found that Straus violated the FWPD’s Code of Conduct, violating both social media conduct and personal conduct. She was given a 10-hour suspension without pay.

“We had not received any complaints against Officer Straus regarding arrests, citations, or traffic stops,” said Commander Kurt Schwan of the FWPD. He added that Straus had no previous disciplinary issues since being sworn in on August 9th, 2021. However, he also noted that the investigation did not review all of her past arrests or citations, leaving open the possibility that she could have abused her authority at some point in her duty.

Straus may have finished serving out her suspension a long time ago, but the ramifications of her video are still making waves online. As police corruption continues to run rampant in the news, videos like these are breaking what little trust remains between the community and those who’ve sworn to protect it.