Police chief fights to keep officer who sent racist texts off force in New Hampshire

A New Hampshire police department is fighting against reinstating an officer fired two years ago over racist text messages.

Fallout over the firing of then-Manchester Police Department officer Aaron Brown has been ongoing since a labor arbitrator ruled in August 2019 that Brown should be rehired, determining his termination was too severe and that he should’ve been given a 30-day suspension instead.

Manchester police decried the case and said they were “extremely sickened and saddened” over the arbitrator’s decision, according to a statement posted to the department’s Facebook page. City Police Chief Carlo Capano balked at the ruling, however, and has promised to keep Brown off the force.

“Manchester police officers take pride in the community we serve and the uniform we wear,” Capano said in a statement. “Aaron Brown’s actions cast a shadow on this agency, but those actions aren’t representative of this police department as a whole. We will do everything possible to make sure Brown is never in a Manchester Police Uniform again.”

Brown was the subject of an internal investigation in January 2018 after the department received a complaint against the then-officer, according to police. The investigation revealed text messages on Brown’s department-issued cell phone that included “extremely disturbing racist remarks” as well as texts in which he “claimed to have intentionally damaged property” while carrying out search warrants.

While the county attorney’s office declined to file criminal charges, the department was still concerned and fired Brown one day after their internal investigation wrapped on April 11, 2018.

“This the kind of stuff that people of color are calling for, as far as (police) reform,” Manchester police commissioner Manny Content told WMUR 9. “This man is a blatant racist.”

The content of the text messages hasn’t been revealed but Brown’s lawyer, Mark Morrissette, claims the department is falsely painting his client as a bigot.

“He (Brown) himself has said he shouldn’t have used those terms, they were wrong,” Morrissette told CNN. “It was private words he said to his wife that he would take back. Again they go back several years, he was asked about these terms, he’s not clear about the circumstances, they’re in text messages with his wife. He admits they’re inappropriate, they shouldn’t have been used.”

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The Manchester Police Patrolman Association filed a grievance over Brown’s termination, leading to an arbitration hearing, according to the police statement. Months later, an arbitrator agreed the text messages were “egregious” and had “no place in law enforcement” but ruled that they didn’t warrant the officer’s termination.

The department was ordered to reinstate Brown and on Aug. 24, 2020, the arbitrator ruled that he was also entitled to “substantial” back pay, according to Manchester police. The department and Union have yet to agree on an amount.

Capano’s refusal to rehire Brown also prompted the police union to file an “unfair labor practice charge” with the Public Employee Labor Relations Board (PELRB) requesting that if force the officer’s reinstatement, the department said.

That case is still under review.

“Sometimes fighting for what is right is difficult and an uphill battle,” Capano said in a statement. “But we take this very seriously and have no intentions of giving up.”

Manchester police is now asking the New Hampshire’s Police Standards and Training Council to review the case and decide if Brown should keep his certification as a law enforcement officer.

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