5 Charlotte Cops Resign After Racist Texts Were Revealed

I know this may come as a shock to you, but five cops in North Carolina have resigned from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police department (CMPD) after it was found that they were exchanging racist text messages with one another. 

Listen, I get it. A group of cops in the South using racial slurs in a group chat? Who could’ve seen that coming? 

The Guardian reports that investigators discovered the texts as part of an investigation into officers misusing Flock cameras. CMPD Police Chief Estella Patterson said during a news conference that officers Mateo Juarez, Joseph Kelly, Tredan Maronic, Matthew Osborn and Alexander Larsen resigned from the department, while a sixth is suspended pending the outcome of an investigation.

A seventh officer, Seth Elliot, resigned in August. He wasn’t in the racist group chat, but he was the person who triggered the entire investigation. Investigators with the North Carolina Bureau of Investigation arrested Elliot after they alleged he improperly accessed a Flock camera. 

“The department remains committed to accountability and providing access to public records in accordance with the law, while respecting the integrity of any ongoing investigations and potential legal proceedings,” the CMPD statement said regarding Elliot’s arrest.

While Patterson declined to reveal in full detail what was in the texts, WSCO-TV reports that they included uses of the “N-word” and compared the department to a “clan rally.” Gonna give that a big yikes, cause damn.

“As a Black woman who began my career here in this very department, it is especially painful and disheartening to hear concerns from our community about racism coming from within the ranks of this organization,” Patterson said.

“Although the officers involved in this investigation were hired before my tenure as chief, that does not lessen my responsibility or my commitment to making sure that what was discovered in this case is not a systemic problem in this organization.”

While none of the cops have been charged with criminal wrongdoing, Patterson intends to have their state law licenses revoked, which would prevent them from ever working in North Carolina law enforcement again. Commendable, but recent history has shown they will likely find work in a police department in another state. Patterson added that the incident has led her to review how officers in her department interact with the public. 

“I have been concerned whether this type of behavior is systemic throughout the department,” she said. “We have begun and will continue auditing [body-worn camera] footage. We’re going to look at the interactions that our officers are having with members of the public to make sure that they are outstanding.”

The text message reveal has understandably raised concerns in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area.

“Reading over what we’re hearing now, if you’re Black you should be worried,” Robert Dawkins, with Action NC, a nonprofit focused on “racial, gender and economic justice,” told WSCO-TV.

“When you see one officer, that’s a problem. When you see multiple officers engaging in something and had the time and ability to locate each other, seeing if they had a shared racist concern – then that’s a systemic issue,” Dawkins added. 

SEE ALSO:

Why Was Malcolm X Holding A Gun? The Story Behind His Iconic Window Photo

Mississippi AG: Cop ‘Justified’ In Killing Of 1-Year-Old Kohen Wiley