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It's sad but true that you're more likely to get pulled over and searched by police if you happen to have more melanin in your skin than other people. This is absolutely not a crime, yet traffic stops that are often just a minor inconvenience for folks with lighter skin tones pose a potentially deadly threat to others. Several police officers Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina, have been caught playing a "game" amongst themselves to see who can pull over the most Black drivers, reports WBTV.
This activity came to light during an unrelated investigation of, surprise surprise, an officer misusing Flock cameras. Seth Elliott was first investigated, then arrested for searching the license plate of an undercover officer, then providing it to subject of a drug investigation, according to a separate WBTV report. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police reviewed Elliott's text messages as part of the Flock misuse investigation, which opened a whole new can of worms.
Elliott was reportedly part of a text message thread among several officers discussing just how many Black drivers they could pull over. The thread also contained racial slurs "related to use of force and discharging firearms at Black residents." It was easy to determine who else was involved in this thread, and now everyone is in hot water with internal affairs.
Caught saying the quiet part out loud
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The officers involved worked in several different divisions, including North Tryon, Freedom, and University City, where Elliott worked. Some of the officers have already quit, and the internal affairs review board has recommended termination of several others. The officers can appeal, but ultimately Chief Estella Patterson will make that decision. Aside from Elliott, who resigned last month, the Charlotte‑Mecklenburg Police Department has not released the names of the officers involved. There is also no report that they have been placed on administrative leave.
These would be far from the first police officers caught displaying racist tendencies. Beverly Hills cops found themselves on the receiving end of a class-action lawsuit over it, and even racially profiled two of their fellow officers. Even fame doesn't protect you, as football player Tyreek Hill discovered when cops on a power trip arrested him right outside the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
Two Torrance, California, officers were fired after spray painting a swastika on a suspect's impounded car in 2021. The investigation turned up a racist text message thread among officers in that department as well. Yet this keeps happening over and over again. It seems like it's only a problem when officers get caught, not for being racist in the first place. As John Oliver described it, "It was a bad system working exactly as designed."