Three Florida police officers were dismissed from their post, while one resigned after purportedly exchanging a chain of racially offensive text messages as well as a video that which portrayed President Barack Obama in a rather deprecating way, according to Fort Lauderdale police.
CNN News reports Jason Holding, James Wells, and Christopher Sousa were fired at once after a five-month internal affairs investigation showed their repeated department misconduct-behavior unbecoming of a police officer and engaging in conduct which could pass prejudice to the good order the police department has.
Alex Alvarez, the fourth police officer, resigned from his post. However, the authorities said that he would have been fired as well if he had not done so himself.
In the series of text messages, the former officers used racially derogatory terms in referring to the people they encountered during their duties. The investigative documents also included a racially insensitive material from "Django Unchained" and the officers talked about getting drunk and "killing n******."
The former officers talked about their co-workers, allegedly criticizing them-this includes the African Americans, making offensive comments about their grammar, appearance, as well as work ethics. The documents stated that a message from one of them referred to the entire shift as "lazy f***."
A false movie trailer was created by Alvarez entitled "The Hoods," which included abusive language and images of President Obama, the Ku Klux Klan and African-Americans.
Chief Franklin Adderley told NBC Miami that the officers said they were just joking around.
Adderley told the reporters that there was no criminal behavior found in their case, but the officers' conduct was inexcusable and their department cannot tolerate the kind of behavior they had exhibited. He added that the attempt of their misconduct was to damage the image of their agency, and in that case, they want the people and the public to know they do not tolerate such behavior and that it has been dealt with accordingly.
Fort Lauderdale Fraternal Order of Police said in a statement that the officers deserve their due process.
Jack Lokeinsky, group president of Fraternal Order of Police said in the statement that they are a multicultural organization that does not tolerate racism in any form. "Our officers take great pride in our commitment to diversity. Our dedicated officers have positive relationships with residents in every community we serve," he added.
Adderley said that the police department would be implementing an obligatory "diversity class" for the officers and an added screening procedure for new hires.