The racial slurs and derogatory comments heard on Chicago police radio may have come from an “unauthorized user” — not a department employee, officials said.
Officials aren’t sure who the crass commenter is or how he tapped into the radio network, but the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications is investigating.
On Sunday morning, a male voice was heard saying “black lives matter, my a–” and “Typical f—ing n—–s” during a conversation between emergency dispatchers and police officers.
“We have reviewed the audio for this incident and we do not believe that the comments were made through the use of a city-programmed radio, as the audio in question lacks identifying characteristics of an official police radio,” OEMC spokeswoman Melissa Stratton told the Chicago Tribune.
Chicago police condemned the hateful words and launched their own investigation into the matter.
The comments came Sunday morning, about 12 hours after protests and clashes postponed a campaign event for Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.
The exchange started when a female emergency dispatcher called on a police unit. When an officer from another squad responded, she jokingly responded: “No, boo, it’s too early to be bothering you. Good morning.”
The officer said good morning back, and another cop asked, “How many boyfriends you have?”
“Why are you all in my Kool-Aid? Why you over here?” the dispatcher replied to the second cop, who was assigned to another dispatch area.
“Typical f—in’ n—–s,” a male voice said.
One of the cops asked the dispatcher to figure which radio the slur came from. She said she didn’t have the radio number but already alerted her boss.
“Black lives matter, my a–. F—ing n—–s,” the voice said.
Police radio waves are legally restricted to department business, but unauthorized users have sometimes hacked into the network.