Statement By DaytonA Beach Shores Department Of Public Safety Director Relating To Termination Of Officer

Date Added: April 11, 2018 3:30 pm

Lieutenant Michael Fowler
Patrol Commander
386-527-8273

Additional information:  Moriarty was served today with an additional, unrelated internal affairs investigation prior to his termination.  That investigation is ongoing and we are prohibited by law from commenting further.

Also, Moriarty was hired in November 2105. 

STATEMENT BY DAYTONA BEACH SHORES DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY DIRECTOR RELATING TO TERMINATION OF OFFICER

A Daytona Beach Shores Department of Public Safety Officer has been terminated after an internal investigation found that he created and shared a totally inappropriate post on the social media platform Snapchat while off-duty. Officer Matthew Moriarty was formally terminated on April 10, 2018.

In early February, Public Safety Department Director Stephan Dembinsky received a complaint from one of approximately 15 people Mr. Moriarty had sent the photograph. Director Dembinsky immediately suspended Mr. Moriarty and ordered that the internal investigation be commenced in accordance with State law.

Professional Internal Affairs investigators learned that Mr. Moriarty had sent a photograph of himself, depicted with an afro hairstyle and beard, with a cartoon gun and syringe dripping blood while driving his car.  Behind Mr. Moriarty was a cartoon police car with its lights on and the overlay of the photograph said, “This is how I celebrate Black History Month.” The recipients of the picture confirmed it came from Mr. Moriarty and Mr. Moriarty never disputed the fact that he transmitted the photograph and disseminated it to many other persons.

The charges of engaging in conduct which has a tendency to destroy public respect for the employee and/or the department and/or destroy confidence in the operation of the municipal service and engaging in conduct which has a tendency to destroy public respect for the employee and/or the department and/or destroy confidence in the operation of the municipal service were sustained against Mr. Moriarty. Mr. Moriarty’s past traffic stops and arrests were examined as part of the investigation and no apparent bias was found.

Director Dembinsky recommended Mr. Moriarty’s termination to the City Manager after reviewing the Internal Affairs investigation and determined that “The actions in this case are reprehensible. Nobody who holds these types of racist biases can be an unbiased and effective law enforcement officer, and this type of behavior will never be tolerated or defended by this agency, These actions undermined the public trust and only serve to make the job of dedicated officers more difficult,” he added.

The City Manager, Michael T. Booker, sustained the recommendation of Director Dembinsky and issued a two page Final Order terminating Mr. Moriarty on April 11, 2018.

The Public SafetyDepartment is contracting with the United States Department of Justice to provide inherent bias training for all its officers. “I will do everything within my power to assure that this type of incident never happens here again,” Dembinsky said. “This additional training will be part of the City's ongoing efforts to ensure that its employees deliver the highest quality of public services to the citizens of the City and the general public” stated Mr. Booker.