Boston officer fired over Gates case comments

[kpete]

Source: Boston Globe

Boston officer fired over Gates case comments
February 5, 2010 04:53 PM

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Justin Barrett, the Boston police officer who sent an e-mail that used a racial slur to describe Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., was fired from the force today by Police Commissioner Edward Davis.

"The Boston Police Department is committed to a standard of excellence,'' Davis said in a statement announcing Barrett's termination. "After a thorough investigation of this matter, it is evident that Officer Barrett’s actions do not comply with that standard.''

Davis called Barrett's e-mail "egregious'' and said that the department cannot achieve its mission of getting the community involved in helping police to protect the city with an officer like Barrett on the force.

Barrett wrote his e-mail after controversy erupted last year over Gates's arrest by Cambridge Police, an incident that sparked a national debate over police treatment of minorities.



Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/02/davis_fires_off.html