A Cincinnati police officer, once featured on a reality show about women in law enforcement, was taken off the streets after she was recorded on her own body camera using a racist slur, officials said Monday.
Officer Rose Valentino, who regularly appeared in the 2011 TLC series "Police Women of Cincinnati," was caught saying "F---ing [n-word], I f---ing hate them!" as she punched the steering wheel of her squad car on April 5, according to an internal affairs probe.
According to the internal affairs report, Valentino said she was agitated by a crowd of cars lining up to pick up students at Western Hills University High School, which didn't move when she activated her lights and siren.
She was particularly angry when a Black "male student walked by and gave Officer Valentino the middle finger," according to the report.
"This is a hard job and I was getting to a point where I was really being affected by it," she told investigators, according to the report. "I have been on for fourteen years."
Valentino told investigators that she does not regularly use racial slurs and that she is open to seeking treatment to relieve stress created by years on the streets.
"Officer Valentino has maintained that she does not have any racial biases that have affected her work. Officer Valentino believes this was a mental episode," according to the report.
A representative for Valentino with her Cincinnati police union did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cincinnati NAACP President Joe Mallory said he was troubled that the officer’s words came from such low-level triggers, street traffic and one obscene gesture.
“To have that agitation, that aggressiveness, that anger, to be triggered like that, it shouldn’t be that easy to be triggered,” Mallory said Tuesday.
Valentino has been relegated to desk duty and "will not be on city streets in uniform, wearing a badge, or carrying a firearm," Interim City Manager John Curp said in statement.
“We hold all of our employees, and especially our sworn police officers, to high standards," Curp said. "The body camera video of Officer Rose Valentino is disturbing. I expect CPD to thoroughly investigate this matter and recommend discipline in strict accordance with the City’s disciplinary procedures."
Mayor Aftab Pureval added in a statement: "I was appalled to see Officer Valentino display such hateful, angry, and racist language. Our law enforcement represents all of this city, and Black Cincinnatians deserve to feel safe knowing they will be treated with mutual respect."
