On Monday, The Wichita Eagle reported that a domestic violence probe into a police officer in Wichita, Kansas revealed a series of racist text messages in which police officers joked about the murder of George Floyd and police killings, as well as made liberal use of racial slurs.
Many of the officers involved in the racist text correspondences have themselves shot civilians, according to the report.
"One text message sent by a white Wichita police officer showed a photoshopped image of George Floyd’s murder. It replaced the white officer who had a knee on Floyd’s neck with an image of a naked Black man sitting on his head," reported Michael Stavola. "A meme sent by a Sedgwick County sheriff’s deputy showed Elmer Fudd with a shotgun saying, 'Be very very quiet I’m hunting (racial slur).' A text from another deputy praised his peers on the SWAT team for being the 'ultimate de-escalators' who 'permanently deescalated people who needed permanent de-escalation.'"
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"The officer who sent the Floyd meme, the deputy who sent the 'de-escalation' message and three Wichita officers who liked, loved or commented on that message have been involved in shootings or killings of civilians," noted the report. "One fatally gunned down a man after he ran from an Old Town club in 2012, records show."
According to the report, the officer behind the Floyd image was "disciplined" but not suspended, and three officers who responded to the "de-escalation" post were given "coaching and mentoring," and one eventually resigned.
In recent years amid high-profile police killings, some departments around the country have come under scrutiny for alleged toxic and racist cultures. One police department in Millersville, Tennessee was so racist behind closed doors that both Black and white officers reported their colleagues to Black Lives Matter activists in 2021.
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