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The City of Red Oak, about 15 minutes due south of Dallas, never really explained why Police Chief Craig Rudolph abruptly resigned this summer after six years on the job. Officials did, however, immediately appoint a special committee to review potential cases of racial profiling and race relations within the department in order to "identify any potential deficiencies in the department and recommend any necessary remedies."
The police officers who worked under Rudolph are much less hesitant to discuss specifics. Eight current and former officers filed a federal lawsuit against Rudolph and the city on Thursday portraying the former chief as a racist, misogynistic, homophobic asshole who made their time at the department miserable.
Among other things, the officers say that Rudolph:
-refused to hire female officers because he thought they'd have sex with their male colleagues while on duty;
-singled out black recruits for additional testing and subjected them to more stringent requirements;
-responded to officers' concerns about unsanitary conditions in the city detention center by saying "They are in jail, fuck 'em";
-often referred to black suspects as "nigger";
-replied that he had "stuck [his] foot in his mouth" after he told several officers, "I don't know which is worse, your kid showing up with a nigger or being a faggot";
-fired at least two officers, Ryan Payne and James Groom, for complaining that they had not been properly trained on the use of a new model of gun acquired by the department.
-kept calling Afghan civilians "towel heads" when discussing one officer's military tour in Afghanistan;
-referred to cases in which a black person is killed as "misdemeanor murder."
When officers complained to city officials, they say they were harassed and ostracized and that, once Red Oak opened an official investigation, they were "subjected to intensive and intrusive interrogations" and polygraphs probing their personal lives. Those officers who are still with the department "continue to be harassed, intimidated, ridiculed and retaliated against by City officials."
Garland Wolf, formerly a lieutenant in the Midlothian Police Department, has since been hired as Red Oak's police chief. He has promised to begin "addressing a lot of issues that have been identified" and establish a clear direction and structure.
"Just from what I have seen in the last couple of days and nothing against my predecessor, but I think that there might have been a little lack of vision."
The police officers who worked under Rudolph are much less hesitant to discuss specifics. Eight current and former officers filed a federal lawsuit against Rudolph and the city on Thursday portraying the former chief as a racist, misogynistic, homophobic asshole who made their time at the department miserable.
Among other things, the officers say that Rudolph:
-refused to hire female officers because he thought they'd have sex with their male colleagues while on duty;
-singled out black recruits for additional testing and subjected them to more stringent requirements;
-responded to officers' concerns about unsanitary conditions in the city detention center by saying "They are in jail, fuck 'em";
-often referred to black suspects as "nigger";
-replied that he had "stuck [his] foot in his mouth" after he told several officers, "I don't know which is worse, your kid showing up with a nigger or being a faggot";
-fired at least two officers, Ryan Payne and James Groom, for complaining that they had not been properly trained on the use of a new model of gun acquired by the department.
-kept calling Afghan civilians "towel heads" when discussing one officer's military tour in Afghanistan;
-referred to cases in which a black person is killed as "misdemeanor murder."
When officers complained to city officials, they say they were harassed and ostracized and that, once Red Oak opened an official investigation, they were "subjected to intensive and intrusive interrogations" and polygraphs probing their personal lives. Those officers who are still with the department "continue to be harassed, intimidated, ridiculed and retaliated against by City officials."
Garland Wolf, formerly a lieutenant in the Midlothian Police Department, has since been hired as Red Oak's police chief. He has promised to begin "addressing a lot of issues that have been identified" and establish a clear direction and structure.
"Just from what I have seen in the last couple of days and nothing against my predecessor, but I think that there might have been a little lack of vision."
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