The digital age, where the access to information is infinite, has proven itself problematic for racist cops. In the past few years, there’s been the Eric Garner video of “I can’t breathe” which went viral, Michael Brown’s fatal death in Ferguson, Missouri, Officer Michael T. Slager’s murder of Walter Scott in South Carolina, and most recently, Freddie Gray and the Baltimore riots. Now, racist cops in the Miami Beach Police Department have been caught sending racist and sexist emails to one another. Approximately sixteen officers were involved in transmitting and receiving over two hundred messages, including racist imagery of President Obama and other African-American celebrities, in addition to a picture of a Monopoly board for African-Americans where every square says Go To Jail on it. Finally, there was evidence of a photo of a woman that had experienced physical abuse from a spouse. The racist cops used this image as an opportunity to mock women, and say that they deserve to be abused by their spouses.
Who Are The Racist Cops That Sent The Messages?
The Miami Beach Police Department Chief, Daniel Oates, declared that it was actually two high-ranking officers. The two racist cops, who had a high position of power in the precinct, sent the messages between the years of 2010-2012, and since then, one of them has retired and another was terminated. Although the chief of police states that the review of these events is supposed to show that this type of attitude is finished in Miami, it is left to the citizens of the city to wonder how often racism has affected the department’s decisions in past arrests. How many racist cops lied about what they saw as witnesses at crime scenes? This is a question that Florida State Attorneys are currently reviewing. They are looking at over five hundred criminal cases in Miami where racism could have affected the outcome of the case.
Does This Kind Of Thing Happen Often?
Unfortunately, this event is not uncommon. In fact, you can travel all over the United States to find the same or similar type of occurrences. Earlier this year, a few officers in Fort Lauderdale were fired from their jobs for sending racist text messages to one another. Also, in San Francisco, seven officers were terminated after having sent messages to one another about burning African-Americans from crosses. Finally, in Ferguson, Missouri, the place of the Michael Brown murder, police officers were found to have sent emails to one another showing African-Americans as indolent and immoral. Often, the police respond by saying it’s only a joke, that it’s only for a little fun and adventure.
