A rookie police officer has been fired after his racist comments came to light.
Joseph Zacharek, a former Indiana cop, was sacked by the Lafayette Police Department after he was accused of making discriminatory comments and sharing racist posts in a Neo-Nazi forum called the Iron March.
The rookie officer was fired just 24 hours after his actions were exposed on social media, prompting the Internal Affairs unit to launch an investigation into the matter.
“The Lafayette Police Department conducts very thorough and complete background investigations on all potential employees, which includes a complete review of personal social media accounts,” the LPD stated after confirming the allegations against the cop who had been with them since June.
“While this information may not have been accessible through our investigative processes, we are appreciative that it was brought to our attention.
“We take great pride in our investigations and are extremely disappointed that we were not able to uncover this information in that process. We endeavor to learn from this investigation to ensure it never happens again.”
According to the reports, Zacharek admitted to making racist posts on the neo-Nazi site shortly after getting challenged by antifascist activists.
Among other bigoted comments, Zacharek allegedly called the African culture “vile” and claimed he “learned that everything I had been taught on race had been a flimsy fabrication which was not supported by real world evidence.”
Speaking of the Iron March, the Southern Poverty Law Center described the group as “an influential gathering place for young neo-Nazis and neo-fascists who eyed the Western world with intentions of triggering race war on a global scale.”
Following the rookie cop’s dismissal, Chief Patrick Flannelly admitted the department failed to obtain the vital piece of information about Zacharek during their background investigation.
“I know the question everyone will have is, how does something like this get missed in a background investigation,” the police chief said.
“How is it possible and how do we prevent this from ever happening again? I’m not going to sugar-coat this. Ultimately, it’s my responsibility. We missed it.”
Replaced!