THREE CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG
POLICE OFFICERS RESIGN AFTER
INTRNAL PROBE OF RACIST TEXTS
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Estella Patterson, an African-American woman, expressed “disgust, anger and frustration” after an internal CMPD investigation revealed six CMPD officers engaged in racist and sexist text messages targeting Black residents. Three of those disgraced officers have now resigned from the force. Chief Patterson told reporters that she hopes to soon call the other three “former employees.”
"The allegations against them are serious, they're deeply troubling, and frankly, I'm disappointed that we're even having to talk about this," Patterson, who formerly served as chief of the Raleigh Police Dept., told reporters during a briefing Oct. 15th. "As a Black woman who began my career here in this very department, it's especially painful and disheartening to hear concerns from our community about racism coming from within the ranks of this organization."
Three of the officers accused were hired before Chief Patterson’s tenure, although all of them were hired within the last three years, according to WCNC-TV. Still, she expressed her commitment to ensure citizens that racist and sexist attitudes among CMPD officers would become a “systemic problem.”
"I have not read all the messages," she continued. "I can share with you that the biases show racial [and] sexual [prejudices]. They also show religious biases... My personal reaction is one of disgust, anger, frustration."
Legally, Chief Patterson said she is not allowed to reveal any specific information about the internal investigation, including the text messages. The case is considered a personnel matter, and the offices involved can only be officially terminated by the Civil Service Board. Patterson assured that all traffic stops, data from those traffic stops, along with body-worn video and arrest records were reviewed, along with any public complaints.
Even though there were no public complaints, or evidence of racial or sexual bias beyond the text messages, Chief Patterson said she is asking for a federal investigation into possible civil rights violations by the officers. In the meantime, she is seeking to revoke the law enforcement certifications of the six officers so that they cannot be hired by any other police agency in North Carolina.
"I hope they will not be an officer anywhere in this country," Patterson added.
Even though the CMPD cannot release specific information about the racist/sexist text messages in question, local television outlets in Charlotte have reported at least one of the accused officers sent a message earlier this year saying that “ their "texts sound like a clan rally”, and that one of the text threads "included a contest over who could pull over the most Black drivers,” repeatedly used the N-word while discussing “"using force and firing on Black residents."
Reportedly, the allegations grew out of the probe of CMPD Officer Seth Flock for alleged misuse of the Flock license plate surveillance network, for which he’s now facing criminal charges for. It was his phone that was downloaded by investigators that revealed the the racist/sexist text thread involving other other officers.
The text message case has attracted the attention of several in the civil rights community, including civil rights attorney and North Carolina native Benjamin Crump.
"A badge should NEVER be a license for discrimination!" Crump wrote on X. "These allegations call into question traffic stops and use-of-force incidents involving these officers!"
Other attorneys are suggesting that any cases where the accused officers are involved should be “frozen” until the internal investigation is completed.
The three remaining officers have been suspended from the CMPD without pay.
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