News 12 First at Five / Monday, Jan. 9, 2012

JOHNSTON, S.C. -- The working relationship between the Johnston Police Department and the Edgefield County Sheriff's Office has always been good, but some Facebook posts are putting a strain on things.

Chief Chris Astin, the chief of police in Johnston, S.C., isn't too happy about the comments, calling them "very unprofessional."

"I don't know what the person who made the comments' issues are, but I'm planning to get to the bottom of it," Astin said.

Sgt. Donald Morris's Facebook page is public, which means you can see the comments just by searching his name.

Captain Chris Wash with the Edgefield County Sheriff's Office says this doesn't reflect well on his office.

"All of your conduct online reflects you as a law enforcement officer," he said.

And comments criticizing Johnston police officers by their call numbers and phrases like ..."JPD, what a joke," aren't sitting well.

"The person who made the comments is a supervisor. I believe it's completely unprofessional, and it definitely needs to be looked into from a supervisor level," Astin told News 12.

Like a lot of law enforcement agencies, the Edgefield Sheriff's Office has a social media policy.

"We actually enacted a social media policy the beginning of last year, I believe," Wash said.

Employees can use social media, as long as it doesn't adversely effect the mission of the sheriff's office.

"It is a violation, and it's being dealt with this morning," Wash said.

Morris has worked for the Edgefield County Sheriff's Office for about 10 years. He worked for the Johnston Police Department before that.

The Sheriff's Office told us Morris isn't allowed to comment to reporters on what's happened, but in response to some of the backlash from his comments, Sgt. Morris did post, "I do love my brothers at good ole JPD."

"I won't say it won't happen again, but hopefully it won't ever happen again," Wash told News 12.