‘Deeply troubling’: 3 North Carolina police officers resign amid probe into alleged racist texts

Charlotte, North Carolina, USA – March 8 2025 : Side view of a Patrol car used by the Charlotte – Mecklenburg Police department in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA (Onfokus/Getty Images)

Three police officers have resigned amid an investigation into alleged racist texts shared among a group of six officers at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) in North Carolina, the police chief announced during a press conference on Thursday.

“The allegations against them are serious,” CMPD Police Chief Estella Patterson said during a press conference on Thursday afternoon. “They’re deeply troubling. And frankly, I’m disappointed that we’re even having to talk about this today.”

Three additional officers are also embroiled in this controversy, and their actions are also being investigated, according to police. Patterson said on Thursday that she supports terminating the remaining three officers who remain on the force.

According to Patterson, the city of Charlotte’s Civil Service Board is reviewing evidence in this case and has the sole authority to determine whether sworn members of the department should be terminated.

The identity of the six officers involved in this case has not been released. Asked about the officers’ identities and the content of the text messages, the CMPD spokesperson did not provide further comment.

According to ABC affiliate in Charlotte, WSOC, the messages included the use of the n-word and were found during an investigation into Flock camera misuse by a former CMPD officer.

Patterson said that since launching the investigation, her department has worked to determine whether there were “external complaints” against the officers being investigated and has partnered with federal agencies to determine whether civil rights violations have occurred.

“We immediately conducted audits of their body-worn footage, we reviewed their traffic stops, their traffic stop data, we looked at their arrest records, and we looked to see if any of those officers had external complaints,” Patterson said on Thursday. “As of this point, we have not found any evidence of this, but I have asked our federal partners to look at the possibility of civil rights violations.”

Patterson said that her department will pursue revoking the North Carolina law enforcement certificates of the officers who resigned so that they cannot serve as law enforcement officers in the state of North Carolina.

“And I hope that they will not be an officer anywhere in this country,” she added.

Patterson said that she is “concerned whether this type of behavior is systemic” and said that her department is taking steps to ensure “proper conduct.” She also said that the state of North Carolina requires officers to participate in “ethics training.”

“My message to the community is that I have said from day one and coming in this position that we will hold employees accountable that are not doing their jobs properly, that operate outside the law, procedures, policies, or anything that’s ethical or unethical within the organization,” Patterson said.

“While I have focused on the negative actions of a few, and we will hold any other employee to proper conduct, I want to underscore the point that the overwhelming majority of our employees do exceptional work every single day,” she added. “They come to work to serve this community, and they demonstrate that in their actions. They do their work with respect, with compassion, and professionalism.”

A spokesperson for CMPD told ABC News in a statement on Tuesday that the department “will not tolerate any behavior that contradicts our core values or jeopardizes the trust we have built with the community we serve.”

Rev. Corine Mack, who leads the Charlotte-Mecklenburg chapter of the NAACP, told ABC News on Tuesday that she was “not surprised” but was “disturbed” by the alleged conduct that is being investigated in this case. “I’m hoping that every one of the officers involved gets decertified, so they cannot go into another department and do further harm to people of color, specifically Black people,” she said.

ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.