DALLAS – The Dallas Police Department suspended an officer after he was accused of creating a challenge coin that was “racist,” according to the head of the Dallas Black Police Association.
Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia doled out a 5-day suspension to the officer during a disciplinary hearing, a local news outlet reported Tuesday. Garcia referred to the coin’s artistry as “insensitive and racially offensive” in a statement.
“I know that this coin, and what it depicts, does not represent the beliefs or ideals of the men and women of the Dallas Police Department as a whole,” Garcia noted. “We will not tolerate this type of conduct.”
The coin depicts a “Dough Boy” character who is projected as a drug dealer while holding an assault rifle, cash, and showing gold teeth in its grin. The artwork also includes a car with oversized gold rims facing off with a Dallas Police unit. The words “Big T Plaza” are prominently featured, which is a shopping center off I-35 and Ann Arbor in Oak Cliff that primarily serves black customers, according to KDFW News.
The coin was designed to commemorate the 15-year anniversary of the Dallas Police Department’s South Central Patrol Division. However, according to leaders, it’s filled with racial stereotypes.
Once the likeness of the coin became widely spread on social media last summer, the officer’s chain of command was notified and he was placed on administrative leave while internal affairs investigated the controversy. It is not believed that any coins were actually made.
The city’s Black Police Association initially raised objections about the coin last August, referring to it as a racist depiction of the area it represents.
Last year, Mike Mata, president of the Dallas Police Association, said the coin is “in very poor taste” and that it “had no business being on the DPA members page,” where it was initially posted.
Mata “immediately” deleted the coin post from the page once he became aware of it, Law Officer previously reported.
“Listen, I have stood before you many, many times to say that when we’re right, we’re right, regardless of the outside noise, but when we are wrong, we will hold ourselves accountable and we are wrong,” Chief Garcia said in August. “This is not what we stand for.”
