Police Cut Ties With Company After Owner’s ‘Appalling’ Posts

BATAVIA, IL — The Batavia Police Department on Thursday said it severed its long-standing ties with a Batavia business whose owner recently posted numerous offensive images, memes and statements on social media.

In a statement Thursday afternoon, department officials said they had just learned of the messages shared by one of its third-party vendors.

"These social media posts can only be described as racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic and otherwise appalling in nature," the statement reads. "The Batavia Police Department wants it to be clear that these messages do not even remotely align with our value of diversity and inclusion in our community, nor with the Police Department’s organizational philosophies or our approach to ethical and impartial policing."

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The vendor supplied car markings for Batavia police vehicles "for a number of years," officials said, but they did not release the name of the company or its owner in the statement.

However, many commenters on Facebook named the Batavia business owner as Jake Zaagman, who operates professionally as "Jake The Striper," saying he has a history of posting offensive comments and memes on public Facebook groups for city residents.

Patch reached out Thursday to Zaagman, who said he had "no comment at all" when asked about the department’s decision and his posts.

Screenshots from his personal page and public groups for Batavia residents show he shared numerous offensive posts, including some comparing Black people to monkeys and animals, others in support of the Confederate flag — including one that says "the queer flag offends me" — and a photo showing a vehicle with stickers that read "anti-Semetic" (sic) and "misogynist" along with a license plate that read "IBWHITE." Zaagman called it the "BEST license plate yet."

On his personal page, Zaagman also shared a photo with the comment "This is how you get SHOT in the back while running & shooting at the POLICE!!! JUSTIFIED !!!"

The post, shared just before the Batavia Police Department released its statement Thursday, was seemingly in reference to fired Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe, who was charged with murder after shooting Rayshard Brooks as he ran away with an officer's Taser. Zaagman deleted the post from his page shortly after being contacted by Patch.