Kentucky police trainers used 'racist and derogatory' materials — and retaliated against people for complaining: lawsuit

On Friday, WDRB reported that a lawsuit alleges a police training agency in Kentucky that instructs officers around the state used overtly racist materials — and took steps to cover it up and retaliate against people who complained.

"An online course for recruits training to be police officers across Kentucky included an image from a website called Nappyafro.com and used the term 'Gorilla Pimp' next to a picture of a shirtless Black man in a section on human trafficking, according to documents in a whistleblower lawsuit," reported Jason Riley. "The slides, which included several pictures of Black people in the trafficking section, were called 'derogatory and racist' by some former employees of the state's Department of Criminal Justice Training who filed the suit."

According to the complaint, at least one employee who tried to report the offending material was punished.

"One of the women said she was demoted after reporting the training content to the department's equal employment opportunity office, according to the August lawsuit and documents obtained by WDRB News," said the report. "And a department supervisor wrote in emails that the training materials could have 'repercussions' if the media were to see them"

This lawsuit comes amid heightened scrutiny on police conduct. Other reports have showed police trainers around the country have been recruited by the Oath Keepers, a far-right paramilitary group that was involved in the January 6 Capitol insurrection.