Two Ferguson police officers resign over racist emails uncovered in federal report
Source: Guardian
Two Ferguson police officers resign over racist emails uncovered in federal report
Captain Rick Henke and Sergeant William Mudd step down as Eric Holder says Justice Department is prepared to close down entire police force if necessary
Jon Swaine in New York
@jonswaine
Friday 6 March 2015 18.26 EST
The second-highest ranking commander in the beleaguered police department of Ferguson, Missouri, was one of two veteran officers to resign on Friday over racist emails uncovered by federal investigators.
Captain Rick Henke stepped down from his job together with Sergeant William Mudd, a fellow long-serving officer who was awarded the Medal of Valor more than 20 years ago, a spokesperson for the city confirmed on Friday.
Their departures came as Eric Holder, the US attorney general, said he was prepared to demand the dismantling of Fergusons entire police department if required for reforms ordered by his department this week in a scathing report on the citys criminal justice system.
Speaking to a pool reporter at Andrews air force base in Maryland on Friday, Holder said an entirely new structure was needed in Ferguson. Asked whether that included closing the police force, he said: If thats whats necessary, were prepared to do that.
The police resignations also followed Wednesdays firing of Mary Ann Twitty, Fergusons municipal court clerk, after she, too, was ensnared in the racist email scandal. Justice Department investigators detailed seven examples of offensive messages they found during searches of tens of thousands of official documents.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/06/ferguson-police-officers-resign-racist-emails
sakabatou
(42,198 posts)cloudbase
(5,526 posts)record and can now go and work for another police department.
TrollBuster9090
(5,955 posts)"and can now go and work for another police department."
We all now know that the Cleveland police department is LOOKING for people like this.
kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)sheshe2
(84,005 posts)Thanks for your Op Judi Lynn.
NoJusticeNoPeace
(5,018 posts)2naSalit
(86,900 posts)I have yet to be impressed with any response by the Ferguson PD.
bluestateguy
(44,173 posts)Just a pampered and overpaid union thug.
Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)replace these fired officers will be hired by the same public servants overseen by the same public elected officials that hired those that are be fired.... Why,,,, 67% of voters in Ferguson didn't give a damn enough to vote last November..... Really saddens me and others that fought the battle for voters rights.
You really think those same public servants will hire a higher caliber of policemen as replacements?
AndyTiedye
(23,500 posts)To vote, they have to get past the Ferguson Police, who arrest or shoot black people for anything or nothing even on an ordinary day.
Perhaps those police experience an outpouring of respect for democracy and so behave differently on Election Day, but I doubt it.
Hekate
(90,978 posts)kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)The federal investigators found that in March 2014, a friend of a relative of the clerk emailed her with a scanned copy of a ticket and asked if there was anything she could do to help. The clerk responded: Your ticket of $200 has magically disappeared!, the report said. The clerk had at least one more ticket dismissed for the same person three months later.
In August when the fatal shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old by a white Ferguson officer led to intense protests the clerk succeeded in having the municipal judge take care of another ticket on behalf of a supervisor at the Ferguson police department.
and
Not only racist, but severely corrupt as well, it seems.
marshall
(6,665 posts)there is nothing to shred, no tapes to erase, no private servers to wipe--it is all owned by the government and can be gone over with a fine tooth comb. We live in a truly transparent world when no one has secrets. And we can rout out and publicly shame those who are troublemakers.