Racist rants released of former WPD officers recorded on police cam

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WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) – Its been more than two years since several recordings of three former Wilmington Police Department officers revealed racism within the police departments rank and file.

And for more than two years theyve been kept confidential.

The murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin sparked outrage and protests across the country with thousands calling for police reform and calls to end racism within police departments across the country.

Recent recordings obtained by WECT revealed racist conversations by now-former Columbus County Sheriff Jody Greene, but it is not the first time recordings revealed racism within law enforcement in Southeastern North Carolina.

WECT has now obtained the videos along with audio recordings conducted by Internal Affairs that were never released to the public. These videos not only reveal the tone and context of the conversations but also how the three officers tried to explain their actions and words.

The recordings included racist conversations by officers Kevin Piner, James Brian Gilmore, and Jesse Moore all captured by accident and discovered by chance. The only reason videos were recorded is due to what appears to be a malfunctioning camera in Piners because unknowingly turned on by accident.

You have a civil war, go ahead and wipe em off the f***ing map thatll put them back about four or five generations. You know what the good ones can go live in their little communities they can do what the f*** they want to do, just stay the f*** out of my way, Piner said at one point.

Wilmington Police address the issue head on

Getting recordings made by the police is difficult in North Carolina due to a state law that shields these cameras from public scrutiny without the order of a judge. However, the public nature of the case is due to Wilmington Police Departments Chief Donny Williams, along with District Attorney Ben David, and Wilmingtons City Council deciding that personnel information should be released under an exception outlined in state law.

That exception says records can be released if the trust of the organization is at stake. That is what Wilmingtons City Council voted to allow in late June 2020.

Council voted unanimously today to give its full competition to release personnel information that is normally confidential, but in this case, the public needs to know so that the public can maintain its confidence in the city and our police department, Mayor Bill Saffo in 2020 during a press conference.

Williams, who was just days into his role as the Chief, announced the firing of the officers during that same press conference.

[The conversations] were brutally offensive and deserved immediate attention, Williams said in 2020. When I first learned of these conversations, I was shocked, saddened, and disgusted. There is no place for this behavior in our agency or our city and it will not be tolerated.

Following the release of the partial transcripts, WPD took the unusual step to request a judge allow the release of the recordings — that request was denied.

From private to public

The Judge never changed his mind to release these recordings, however, an appeal by one of the three fired officers, Brian Gilmore, reached Superior Court.

Thats when the recordings were submitted as evidence making them public record.

Gilmore appealed his termination first with the cities Civil Service Commission, which ultimately upheld his termination. In his 2020 appeal to the Civil Service Commission, Gilmore said his comments were regarding his religious beliefs, and not racially motivated.

The Holy Bible teaches that no one should bow down before another human being or idol and worship them, Gilmore explained in his appeal letter in 2020. This conversation was about the Black Lives Matter protesters and was not racially motivated but expressed my personal opinions, based on my religious beliefs.

The CSC did not reverse his termination and thats when this reached the courts ultimately, in May of 2022, a judge upheld Gilmores firing. While the evidence submitted was public record, it took legal assistance to get the recordings themselves.

At first, the Clerk of Court told WECT the recordings were digital and due to a lack of technology to copy DVDs, they were unable to provide the recordings.

Finding the recordings

The events leading to the discovery of the recordings are best described as coincidental and random.

During the interview conducted by Professional Standards, Piner appears confused as to how and why the camera in the back seat of his car turned on and started recording.

Regardless of how the camera was turned on, Piner takes responsibility and does not deny anything said in the video.

I try to make sure that the cameras are off, I cannot figure out why the rear camera was on it doesnt really matter because I did what I did, I said what I said, he said.

As for the discovery of the content of the videos, that too was lucky.

Were supposed to review a video from each person every month and I just sat down that day saying, Im going to try to knock a few out today and thats what I was doing, the officer who found the recordings told internal affairs in a recorded interview .

Wilmington Police Department Policy confirms this is the standard operating procedure at least one video per month from Mobile Video Recording Equipment (MVRE).

The policy reads, in part, Personnel who supervise officers assigned to utilize MVRE/BWCs shall Conduct a monthly inspection of equipment and quality assurance review of the videos of each subordinate under them. At least 1 MVRE video will be reviewed from each subordinate.

Through the internal affairs interview, the supervisor reveals how they came across the recordings.

Part of your duties as a supervisor is a video review and thats how you came across this video, nobody pointed it out to you or anything? IA asked the supervisor.

Oh, no, the supervisor responded.

Early into the recording, the supervisor says it was obvious that the video appeared to be an accidental recording, but decided to take a closer look. Although the video only showed the back seat of the vehicle she kept watching.

When I hit play, it was just I could tell it was the backseat of his vehicle. So I wasnt really interested in that, the officer told IA. I dont remember the first thing that caught my attention, but I knew it was more than just hey, Im talking to my buddy here.

During the interview, the Internal Affairs officer asks the supervisor if she was surprised by what she heard to which she answered — no.

She went on to explain how she had heard similar, albeit less extreme language between the officers over the past few weeks.

venting

Both Piner and Moores interviews with internal affairs show two officers saying theyve been under stress and fear since the protests against police started to take off. According to the IA interviews, Piner and Moores conversation was in response to the protests and the attitude toward law enforcement.

Both of the former officers were adamant they are not racists.

The language is horrible but I can promise you this, people that know us, even the people that we probably will offend by this video, will say thats not us, he said.

However, the excuse that the language was simply venting is not one that Keisha James, an attorney with the National Police Accountability Project says she believes.

I think its really hard to believe that these officers were just venting. Especially when you have them calling for civil war, and you have them using racial slurs, she said.

Internal affairs also questioned that excuse.

You just use the term f***ing n*****s and then you follow that up with him and take it to a negro magistrate. And, and so what’s going on with that? Is that just how you wind? the IA officer asks Moore.

No longer eligible to be rehired

One of the other steps that local officials took to hold these officers accountable was to ensure they were unable to be rehired, something that James said isnt common.

In a lot of these cases, its rare to even see officers get terminated for this kind of conduct, without there being some kind of video or audio or kind of media getting involved and putting some more pressure on the department to take action, James said .

Even then, officers dont always stay off the force.

Its also rare for those officers to remain terminated instead of being reinstated either at that department or another department, she said.

The steps that District Attorney Ben David took following the discovery of the recordings were aimed to prevent the officers from ever holding a badge again. David determined all three officers are now Giglio impaired meaning they could never be called as a witness for the state again.

Consistent with our Giglio policy, I met with attorneys representing the former officers earlier today to inform them of my offices decision. Pursuant to that same policy, we have sent a letter to North Carolina Law Enforcement Training and Standards, which certified law enforcement officers working in the state. These officers should not only lose their jobs with the WPD but, in the view of my office, have lost the right to wear the badge for any law enforcement agency in the future, David wrote in a letter to Williams.

Williams was also clear that he did not want these officers to ever work for his department, or the city again.

I have recommended that none of them be eligible for rehire in any position with the city of Wilmington, he said in 2020.

James said the conversations captured on camera at the Wilmington Police Department are not isolated to Wilmington but says it is rare for the recordings and transcripts to be made public.

The scary part is that these two conversations just happened to get accidentally recorded and then the Department took steps to investigate and then release some of the details about their investigation and what was contained in the recordings, that is typically not the case, she said.

Without recordings like these James said the chances of officers being held accountable for their words and actions are uncommon.

The racism within the ranks of the police department didnt just impact the community, but the police department itself.

Following the judges decision not to release the videos to the public in 2020, Williams asked the community to not let a few officers bad actions reflect on the department as a whole.

We petitioned the court to release this video in an effort to be transparent; however, we understand and support the judges decision. As I said in my statement on June 24: Please do not judge our agency based on the conduct of a few. We have great officers who go above and beyond to do whats right, and I proudly stand with them and beside them. We are all hurt by this incident. We are all angry. Let this be an opportunity for us to come together as a community and heal. We will be stronger for it, he said.

Copyright 2022 WECT. All rights reserved.

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