WDRB-TV screenshot

In a case that just bolsters my theory that law enforcement has become a haven for virulent white supremacists, a former Prospect, Ky., assistant police chief told a Louisville Metro Police Department recruit that if he caught juveniles smoking marijuana, he should “shoot them” if they were black. And worse.


According to documents released Friday, Todd Shaw—who resigned from the Prospect Police Department, in suburban Louisville, after it conducted its own investigation—sent several disgusting, racist Facebook messages to the recruit, according to Jefferson County, Ky., Prosecutor Mike O’Connell.


WDRB reports that Shaw had fought to keep the messages private, but Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Judith McDonald-Burkman ruled this week that the records must be released.

And boy, were they doozies. According to WDRB:

Shaw served with LMPD for more than 20 years before joining the Prospect department in 2012. In one of the Facebook messages, the LMPD recruit asked Shaw what to do in a scenario in which he catches three juveniles smoking marijuana. The question was part of a paper the recruit was writing about “the right thing to do,” according to O’Connell’s letter. “F—- the right thing,” Shaw allegedly responded. “If black shoot them.” And as for what to tell the parents of the juveniles, Shaw said: “… call their (pa)rents … if mom is hot then f—- her … if dad is hot then handcuff him and make him suck my d—-,” according to O’Connell’s letter. Shaw continued, “Unless daddy is black. … Then shoot him.”

The outlet reports that Shaw was initially suspended with pay Sept. 1, but when presented with evidence of the department’s findings in November, he resigned (I’m sure with his pension, since he wasn’t fired).

In another Facebook message, Shaw told the recruit that housing projects needed to be leveled.

“For years I have seen the blacks live off uss (sic) and putting them in one big housing area breeds HUGE peoblems [sic],” Shaw wrote. “We don’t see a Muslim problem around here we just see lazy ass people that don’t want to work and that entices more Mexicans to cross the border and take the American jobs ... ”


And in a message about Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Shaw said that King was “nothing but a raciast [sic] womanizer ... but because someone shot him, I get a day off with pay each year so I will take it.”

And then the distancing began.

“The city of Prospect has zero tolerance for the type of content sent by Shaw,” Prospect Mayor John Evans said in a written statement. “I want to make it crystal clear: neither the city of Prospect, not its citizens, condone, support or endorses the views expressed by Shaw in these postings/messages.”


“There is no place in police departments for men or women who hold such strongly held prejudices, including recommending shooting people simply because of their race,” O’Connell wrote.

“I am disgusted by the shocking and appalling statements released today—between the former Prospect Assistant Chief of Police Todd Shaw, and a former LMPD recruit,” LMPD Chief Conrad said in a statement.




ABC News reports that prosecutors found the messages while investigating a case in which Shaw allegedly tried to assist another officer by improperly accessing the National Crime Information Center database.

And this man—and thousands like him—carry guns every day.

Read more at WDRB-TV and ABC News.