Four cops — three whites and one Hispanic — have been terminated from the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, police department for an “inappropriate” video and text messages, CBS News reports. The mayor termed their behavior “racist” and “reprehensible.”
The video displayed a KKK hood and mocking image of President Obama, and the text messages disparaged blacks, Hispanics, and homosexuals, and included references to killing blacks. The police chief (who is black) said the officers considered it “a joke. But the city administration was not amused.
A CBS affiliate TV station in Miami identified the officers as James Wells, 30, Jason Holding, 31, Christopher Sousa, 25, and Alex Alvarez, 22. Their work assignments had been in predominantly black neighborhoods. The city began investigating them last fall after Alvarez’ fiance squealed on them. Here’s hoping this ends their police careers and another police agency won’t hire them to save a few bucks on training costs. That’s been a problem in Ferguson and other places; the Cleveland rookie cop with an itchy trigger finger who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice was a reject from a nearby department.
The chief said his department responded to the incident by requiring all officers to attend an annual diversity training class, and will evaluate its screening of new hires.
You think??? If racists can get jobs in a department with a black chief, there’s obviously something wrong with how cops are being hired, although this has been blatantly obvious from clear evidence that a stunning amount of policing all across the nation is racist in nature. This country’s police agencies — nearly 18,000 in number — need to get their collective act together and clean their houses, and revamp who gets hired to be cops.
In addition, the criminal and civil immunity society has misguidedly conferred on bad cops, bully cops, and killer cops needs to come to a screeching halt. Grand juries must indict, and prosecutors must prosecute, when cops leave the reservation and harm citizens they’re supposed to serve.
Photo: Ft. Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderley