PG County Police Chief Hits Back at Racial Intimidation Complaints

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — Prince George's County Police Chief Hank Stawinski struck back at a complaint filed against the police department alleging racial discrimination, claiming that some of the pictures were innocent in nature and others were immediately addressed by his department.

A complaint filed on behalf of dozens of Prince George's County police officers reported several incidents at the department that targeted African-Americans, including a training dummy with an "afro" wig at its feet and a black face on its head; a license plate on an officer's car reading "GFYOBAMA"; and a picture of file cabinet with "color guard" written on it with the word "color" scratched out and replaced with "African-American."

Stawinski addressed the allegations at a press conference late Thursday afternoon saying he was "deeply concerned" about the claims. However, he said there was nothing racial about the training dummy.

Stawinski said the black face taped to the training dummy's head was actually from a commercial photo of a man with a gun often used in police training, and there are other such training aids of people who are white. He added that the "afro" wig was actually from a white mannequin used as a different training aid.

The license plate came to Stawinski's attention back in April 2016. It was on the personal vehicle of one of the officers in the department. The claim was that the plate actually stood for "Good for you, Obama," but Stawinski said he rejected that assertion and believed it to be a vulgar reference to the president.

"I immediately consulted with my legal advisers, and I was informed a Maryland license plate had been issued, and that people do have a first amendment right to express their opinions," he said. "I find that repulsive. Repulsive."

He contacted the president of the police union, and told him the officer could not park his car on Prince George's County property, and the license plate was removed within 72 hours.

As for the photo of the filing cabinet, Stawinski said that had only recently come to his attention and he was still conducting an investigation on how that happened.

Image via Prince George's County Police Department