CMPD Chief says she can’t release the racist text messages at the center of investigation
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Chief Estella Patterson says the public may never see the racist text messages that resulted in disciplinary action for seven officers.
“I have released what I can legally release, but I want the public to be aware and conscientious of, we have ongoing investigations. I’ve said publicly that we’ve asked our federal partners to look into this,” Chief Patterson said. “We don’t wanna compromise those investigations in any way.”
In the thread, the officers reportedly used racial slurs, competed to see who could arrest the most Black people and joked about shooting Black residents. Chief Patterson revealed the thread also contained gender and religious bias. However, Chief Patterson says the department found no evidence any of the officers acted on bias.
“We looked at everything and we, whatever was in the messages, we correlated that with body-worn camera. We went back and looked at the day that the message was sent. Was the officers even working that day? We looked at their activities for that day. Did they arrest anybody? Did they make any traffic stops?,” Chief Patterson said. “We looked, we overlaid all that information because we wanted to be sure this wasn’t a systemic thing going on in the police department.”
The officers names have been released and six of the seven resigned. The remaining officer has a Civil Service Board review in November. Chief Patterson wants the state to revoke their certifications so they can’t join another department. They all joined the CMPD around the same time.
“You never know truly what’s in somebody’s heart, right? Like, we don’t have any system that’s gonna be able to detect that,” Chief Patterson said. “We can do the best that we can to try to vet candidates, make sure that we’re getting the right people in the right in the seats.”
Chief Patterson says the department will review its hiring process and training. She says they’re taking action to restore community trust.
“Getting back into the community, working with community groups, we plan to have listening sessions where the public can come and just talk to us about their experiences, what they feel and what they think,” Chief Patterson said. “We owe that to them to be able to do that.”
The FBI is investigating whether any of the officers in the racist thread violated citizen’s civil rights. Chief Patterson says she wants to bring back Transparency Workshops where residents can learn more about how the department works and her authority as Chief.
