The NAACP is demanding that the City of Hartford fire a dispatcher and a Police Sergeant after they were caught making racist comments over police radios.
A Hartford emergency dispatcher is on paid leave and under investigation for making a racial slur last week while sending an officer on a call.
"That’s going to be 198 Fairfield Avenue, an argument with a n*****, a neighbor over a trash can," the dispatcher said.
“This guy needs to be fired,” Scot Esdaile, of the Connecticut NAACP, said.
He called for a Hartford Police Sergeant to be fired too.
In May, the sergeant made racist comments on a police radio while he driving through the North End and describing people on the street.
He was permanently assigned to desk duty.
“We are not satisfied with the way things are being handled in the City of Hartford,” Esdaile said.
He wants Hartford to have a zero tolerance policy for racism in the workplace and went to city hall on on Tuesday, where he met with leaders.
“We're totally upset about what's going on in the City of Hartford, it seems like racism is running rampant,” Esdaile said.
“I think we need to have better awareness, I think things need to be changed,” City Councilor Kyle Anderson said.
He was at the meeting and said workers needed to know this behavior was not acceptable, but also questioned if terminating the two in question was appropriate.
“People make mistakes,” Anderson said.
Those are mistakes the NAACP is trying to stop.
“We’ll put a clear plan together on how we'll implement a zero tolerance in the City of Hartford,” Esdaile said.
He also said putting that plan together was the next step, and he planned to meet with the Mayor next week.
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