Three Wilmington police officers have been fired from the force for violating Department policy concerning inappropriate language. Chief Donny Williams confirmed the move at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
READ the full WPD report HERE
Chief Williams says disrespectful speech, racial slurs, and use of the N-word have cost three police officers their jobs in Wilmington.
Police chief Donny Williams made the announcement this afternoon.
“We officially terminated officer James Gilmore, corporal Jesse Morton and officer Kevin Piner as a result of an internal investigation that uncovered extensive violations of the department's manual rule policies, which included our standard of conduct, criticism, and use of inappropriate language.”
The behavior was discovered during a routine inspection of a video from one of the officer’s patrol cars.
Section of WPD Police Chief statement on the matter:
“The investigation started as a result of a supervisor’s routine inspection of video from Officer Piner’s in-car camera. After a review of the video the supervisor discovered two conversations that Officer Piner had, one with Officer Gilmore and the other with Corporal Jesse Moore, II. The conversations included disrespectful language, hate-filled speech and referred to black people as the “N” word. They also criticized me, several black officers within the agency and made negative comments about individuals outside of the agency. They made negative comments about the Black Lives Matter protests and were critical of our response. The 46 minute and 12 second conversations were brutally offensive and deserved immediate action. You will find more details about the investigation in the public documents we are releasing today.”
Williams says he will sit down with every police officer, one on one, during the month of July to discuss the issues. He asks the public not to judge the department, based on the actions of a small few.
Vince Winkel, WHQR News.
READ the full WPD report HERE