A cop who nearly resigned after posting a racist meme on Facebook has been named the his town’s new police chief.

Wayne Welsh, who is now the head of the Estherwood, Louisiana police, sparked outrage in July 2017 when he posted the image depicting a white woman drowning a baby with the caption ‘When your daughters (sic) first crush is a little n***o boy.’

Welsh was suspended from the police force when he posted the picture and later apologized – but that did not stop him from being named the new police chief after he ran unopposed in November.

Louisiana cop who was suspended for sharing a racist image on Facebook becomes his town’s police chief just two years later

(Picture: Estherwood Police Department)

This is the meme shared by Wayne Welsh in 2017 that resulted in his suspension (Picture: Facebok)

The village of Estherwood is predominantly white and less than 5% of its 900-person population is African-American, according to CNN, who tried to interview six black residents who all declined to go on the record for fears of retaliation.




Welsh also declined to be interviewed but sent a text message to CNN claiming that he did not think the meme was racist, ‘it was just sharing something off of Facebook,’ he said.

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‘What happened(ed) two years ago is behind me and my punishment was done to me and now I’m moving forward with my life and as the new chief of police,’ Welsh wrote, who has since deleted the Facebook account.

Although Welsh received statewide backlash following the offensive post, many in his own village do not see it to be a problem – including the new mayor.

‘As the new mayor I don’t see any problems or foresee any future problems with him. I was hoping this would have been taken care of,’ Estherwood Mayor Donald Popp said.

Welsh was briefly suspended but has now become police chief in Estherwood. Immediately after the incident Welsh defended his actions in sharing the meme (Estherwood Police Department)

Residents seemed to echo their mayor’s sentiment.

‘It doesn’t matter because at the end of the day, he’s still here to do his job and he does it to the fullest and he would give you the shirt off his back whether you are black, white, Mexican, Asian,’ said Tyler Lantier, 20, who added that he uses the N-word ‘often,’ claiming ‘he doesn’t use it as a racist because he has plenty of black friends.’

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Even the police chief who suspended Welsh for sharing the offensive content appeared to take it easy on his soon-to-be successor.

‘I know Wayne didn’t do this on purpose,’ said former Police Chief Ernest Villejoin, adding ‘He didn’t do this to offend anybody. I apologize to anybody that it offended, believe me.’

Mayor Donald Popp said he ‘doesn’t foresee any future problems with Wayne Welshe.’ (Picture: CNN)

Welsh texted CNN: ‘What happen(ed) two years ago is behind me and my punishment was done to me and now I’m moving forward with my life and as the new chief of police.’ (Picture: KTAN)

Welsh was originally set to resign for the post, and even filled out his resignation, but the village board refused to accept it, including the then-mayor Anthony Borill who reportedly said ‘I backed the chief. His opinion is the one that counts.’

The promotion of Welsh to the position of police chief, although an apparent nonissue for Estherwood residents, has sent a loud, clear message to the state’s African-Americans, Louisiana NAACP president Michael McClanahan told The Black Detour.

‘What I take from all of this is when I go through that little town, I better be doing five miles below the speed limit, and I better go through there in the day time and not darkness and (I) tell all my family the same. Don’t stop at no store, just go through there and keep going,’ McClanahan said.

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Welsh’s meme was not the only incident that forced him to take time off from working law enforcement. In 1992, he was hired as a police officer in the nearby town of Jennings, but he was fired in March 1995 after it was discovered Welsh had sex with a woman while on duty, according to police records.

He has since refused to comment in the matter, although he claimed he did not do anything wrong.