Two Southlake police officers were terminated last month for allegedly drawing a swastika on a police whiteboard and accidentally disseminating a photo of it.
Sgt. Jonathan Macheca allegedly drew the symbol on a whiteboard during a break from a police hiring event, and Capt. James Preston Logan snapped a picture of Macheca smiling in front of it, according to The Dallas Morning News. The drawing included a swastika, lightning bolts, and the letters “SSRO.”
The swastika and lightning bolts are common Nazi and neo-Nazi symbols. The letters “SS” represent Hitler’s paramilitary forces. They appear to have been combined with “SRO,” an abbreviation for “school resource officer.”
Logan was captain of the school resource division, and Macheca was part of the training unit, the DMN reported.
An investigation reportedly revealed that Logan unknowingly sent the picture of Macheca standing next to the drawing to a member of the public.
Logan was apparently trying to send the picture to other hiring board members but had an old phone number for a sergeant and inadvertently texted it to a civilian.
The citizen responded with, “who is this, and why are you sending me a picture of a racist cop?” according to documents obtained by the DMN.
A third officer, Sgt. Chris Melton, was accused in the documents of texting the photo to another sergeant and sending “disparaging and unprofessional” comments about potential police candidates to the hiring board.
Logan was fired on July 11, and Macheca was fired on July 17. It is not clear if Melton was disciplined for his alleged part in the incident, and the Southlake Police Department did not respond to The Dallas Express‘ inquiry on the matter.
Southlake Police Chief James Brandon issued a statement on July 28.
“As Chief I am deeply disappointed in the lack of judgment shown by the actions of the officers involved,” he wrote. “The display of a symbol of hate undermines the confidence of the public in our department and does not reflect our values as public servants.”