Ohio Officer Suspended After Caught Using N-Word on Bodycam

An Ohio officer has been disciplined for using a racial slur while on duty.

WCPO reports Rose Valentino—a 14-year veteran who appeared in the TLC series Police Women of Cincinnati—was stripped of her policing powers due to a hateful tirade caught on camera. According to the station, the incident took place on April 5 as the officer was driving past a high school and began signaling parked motorists to move. Valentino’s bodycam recorded her shouting at a civilian who was out of the frame, before saying the N-word under her breath.

“You gotta move,” Valentino was heard saying. “Fucking ridiculous … Is she gonna fucking just sit there? Oh I fucking hate them so much, God I hate this fucking world. “Fucking n*****r. I fucking hate ’em.”

Officials say Valentino had turned off her bodycam at one point during the incident, but the mobile camera in her cruiser captured her hateful, angry comments until she parked. 

Valentino reportedly admitted to using the racial slur when referring to a Black teen driver who allegedly flipped her off. According to an internal report, the officer claimed she was “desensitized to racially offensive language by music and hearing people talk on the street” and “frequent exposure had allowed the slur to slip into her vernacular.”

“[Expletive] [N-words]’ was not intended to refer to all African-Americans,” she reportedly told investigators, per Local 12, “but was specifically and narrowly in reference to the teenager walking down the sidewalk after school.”

Valentino went on to say she typically doesn’t use racial slurs, but became angry that motorists weren’t taking her demands seriously. She told investigators she is considering getting treatment to better deal with job-related stress.

“This is a hard job and I was getting to a point where I was really being affected by it,” she said, according to the report. “I have been on for fourteen years.”

The Cincinnati Police Department confirmed it is investigating the incident and has placed Valentino on desk duty. Though they have yet to publicly announce further disciplinary action, city officials are calling on the department to remove the officer from the streets.

“This should not be what we allow,” activist Ira Roley WCPO. “It should not be the standard of policing in the city of Cincinnati or the perception that this is acceptable. It is unacceptable … There is no training that can rid one of racist behavior. … People see this as an offense and it’s a precursor to treatment. If you can say that loud based on a flipping of a finger, so let’s just start with the action that got the reaction, then maybe you’re not suitable to be in that uniform and do that job.”