2nd officer fired after racist Snapchat; audit finds racial divide in Detroit's 6th precinct

DETROIT (FOX 2) - The Sixth Precinct is racially divided. 

That's the conclusion that Detroit Police Chief James Craig was reached following an environmental audit looking at the department. The audit comes after a SnapChat video that surfaced showing an officer disparaging an African American woman.

"Keysha, Jakes, homie, and ghetto sledge... In what we determined through the environmental audit, ghetto sledge referenced vehicles operated by African Americans," said Craig.

Those terms, considered racists, were discovered upon a review of the department after police officers Michael Garrison and Gary Steele were put on leave. While it was Steele who was caught on camera stating derogatory things and later fired for the incident, the review also found that Garrison demonstrated distrubing actions while on the job.

He was subsequently fired as well.

The chief said the officers would avoid working overtime by ticketing and towing cars at the end of their shift. A pattern later emerged showing the owners of those vehicles were primarily African American. However, others say that pattern extended beyond just one demographic.

"It scares me to see officer like that on the streets because there's no telling what he can do," said Tanner Mandeville. "He's an officer with a badge and he feels like he can do anything with it."

Mandeville said Garrison harrassed him and other homeless people, including jailing him for selling water.

"There's no telling how far that can go," he said. "That's dangerous."

From the audit Craig discovered another issue he is now addressing: The lack of gender diversity in the Sixth Precinct.

"There's no racial diversity, no inclusiveness, no real balance," Craig said. "One of the things we noted is there is not one female supervisor assigned to the shifts at the sixth precinct."

"This is a very sad occasion, but it's also a light in a dark tunnel that we are looking to make changes," said Pastor Mo Hardwick, a community activist.