CINCINNATI — A Black Cincinnati Police Department officer has been reinstated after being suspended for saying a racial slur while working an off-duty assignment.
Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police President Dan Hils was disgusted and outraged by officer Joehonny Reese's suspension, and he's frustrated the process took so long to reinstate him.
Hils said Reese was originally suspended on Sept. 2 while him and another CPD officer were working off-duty outside the club. Hils said the teen began threatening and shouting at the bar's security staff and the officers, repeatedly calling the two Black officers the n-word and referring to them as "fake n-words."
"What that body camera shows is a completely out of control drunk teenager and Detective Reese staying completely under control and trying to inform him of what stupidity he was saying and stupidity that could have gotten him hurt or caused commotion with the crowd," Hils said.
Hils said the teen also attempted to assault the officers. Reese responded to the teen's use of a racial slur by saying "he would not be a n-word," Hils said. Reese was suspended the following week.
"(Reese) didn't use a racial slur," Hils said. "He used a two-syllable word to tell a person who was using a racial slur to refrain from his behavior."
Reese was reinstated Sept. 20, but Hils believes the investigation also took too long.
"You could have completed an investigation on this in about a, I'll say, I'll say an hour just to be nice," Hils said. "But probably less."
Community activist Iris Roley said it's critical that all officers who say a racial slur go through the same investigation process.
"It takes time and I think it was a sufficient amount of time," Roley said. "I'm quite sure the officer wanted to be back as soon as he can, but this is something they all understand will happen, has happened before and will continue to happen in the future."
Hils didn't agree with Reese's suspension in the first place and called on the city to reinstate him.
"The circumstance of every incident has to be considered and this idiotic decision from the department must be reversed," Hils said.
NAACP President Joe Mallory also agreed with reinstating Reese.
Chief Theetge said in a statement it is standard under her leadership to suspend police powers until an investigation into the use of a racial slur is complete.
"As the Chief for the Cincinnati Police Department, it is my duty and responsibility to ensure that every allegation of misconduct by any member of this organization be investigated," Theetge said. "Regardless of the circumstances, a complete and thorough investigation will be conducted by our Internal Investigations Section (IIS)."
Roley said the Cincinnati United Black Front made some suggestions to change the city's rules around the use of racial slurs and discipline. She believes there should be a zero tolerance policy with some exceptions.
"We should all have zero tolerance around not just for some racial slurs but for all of them, and it should be zero tolerance," Roley said.
A Black police officer filed a lawsuit against the city and former chief Eliot Isaac earlier this year after he was retroactively suspended for using the n-word. According to a lawsuit, Donte Hill said he had been disciplined and received a written reprimand after using "an excessive number of unnecessary and profane comments" while responding to a fight in Westwood in September 2018. Months later, a white officer had his police powers suspended for using the word. Hill then had his police powers retroactively suspended.
The lawsuit alleges that Chief Issac was either advised of or realized on his own that the white officer received stricter disciplinary actions taken against him for using the n-word on the job than a Black officer did. According to the lawsuit the officers engaged in identical conduct.
Two white officers were suspended this year after using the n-word while on duty. One of the officers, Rose Valentino, was later fired.
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