Arizona police apologise for 'rap to avoid ticket' video
City leaders in Arizona have apologised after a cable TV programme showed a white police officer telling two black men that they could avoid a litter ticket by rapping.
Tempe mayor Hugh Hallman and Police Chief Tom Ryff apologised for the show and suspended its future production after black community leaders voiced outrage and disappointment.
“I accept responsibility for the actions of my staff and apologise to any members of our community who have been offended,” Ryff said.
The segment appeared on Tempe StreetBeat, a programme produced by police in the Phoenix suburb that followed several officers on patrol. It shows Sgt Chuck Schoville pulling over two men in August in a shopping mall car park.
He first asks for a name and identification from the driver and then asks the two men if they know how much the fine is for littering.
The officer then tells the men that they can avoid getting a littering ticket “if the two of you just do a little rap about – what do you want to do a rap about? Littering? About the dangers of littering”.
The two men agree and each performs a short rap, laughing afterwards. One says: “The dangers of littering, you will get a ticket. If you ain’t wit’ it, you better be experienced.”
The second man raps: “Yo, I just got pulled over ’cause I threw my trash out the window when they rolled over. They got behind me and pulled me over.”
Later, Schoville talks football with the men, one of whom agrees with his prediction that the Oakland Raiders will make it to the Super Bowl this year.
Schoville then says: “You know why you say I’m right? Because I got a gun and badge. I’m always right. That’s the way it works, right?” The three laugh and the two men get in their car.
Leaders of chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People and the National Action Network expressed outrage and demanded that the city act.
The Rev Jarrett Maupin of the National Action Network said he had accepted Hallman’s and Ryff’s apologies and intended to make sure the police department honoured a proposal for an African American advisory board and increased diversity training.
“It’s important for police officers to realise that black people do not speak hip hop,” Maupin said. “We’re not all rappers and thugs and gangbangers. We speak the English language and we’re entitled to the same amount of respect.”
Ryff said the department was investigating how the video got on the air, who watched it and who edited it. He would not discuss whether there would be any punishment for those involved.
The chief said that he had not been able to contact Schoville, a 25-year veteran of the Tempe force, because the officer was on holiday.
