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Video of an unnamed Prince George’s County police officer in Maryland talking to school children about a “black bad guy” has sparked outrage.
The officer was telling a group of kids about how K-9s help cops catch criminals and solve crimes when he made the head-turning remark.
“He knows from his training that he sits down when he finds something, when the handler tells him, that has human odor on it. So, for instance, if a black bad guy is running and he drops a cellphone, or he drops this piece of leather that may have evidence or DNA on it,” said the officer on camera.
The video was on the Prince George’s County Facebook page as a Facebook Live post last week until people online pointed out the insulting comment. The clip has since been removed.
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Public Apology
In response to the backlash, Prince George’s County chief of police, Hank Stawinski, issued an apology in an online video.
“During that presentation, one of our handlers made an unfortunate remark. The reality is that that officer misspoke,” the said Stawinski.
The police chief then went on to talk about how the unnamed officer felt about the response to the comments he made. “I have talked to the officer, and he’s very troubled by the response that this is eliciting in comparison to his record of service for this community,” explained the chief.
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Stawinksi then issued an apology on behalf of the cop and the department. “What I know is that this community doesn’t expect us to be perfect. It does expect us to acknowledge when we’ve made a mistake, and that’s what I’m doing today. So, on behalf of that officer and this institution, I apologize to this community for that unfortunate remark,” he said. “But I want you to know that that remark does not represent who that officer is, and it does not represent what this institution stands for.”
According to NBC Washington, this is not the first time the Prince George’s County Police Department has been embroiled in a controversy about race. This past June, 120 police officers from the department signed a complaint to the Department of Justice alleging that the work environment was racist, unfair and sexist.
Watch the apology from Prince George’s County police chief about the “black bad guy” below:
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