I’M SORRY NOW
Trenton police director apologizes for ‘hoodrats’ comment after pressure
TRENTON » With calls for his resignation beginning to mount, city Police Director Ernest Parrey Jr. issued an apology 48 hours after a video of him surfaced referring to residents as “hoodrats.”
In a statement, Parrey, who was appointed to his position in July 2014 by Mayor Eric Jackson, said he has “worked extremely hard to build sustainable relationships” between the community and the police department.
“I want to apologize for the poor choice of words that I used during the course of a conversation I had with two of my officers,” the police director said, noting he is passionate about his work. “By no means was my intention then, or has it ever been, to offend the good law abiding citizens of our community.”
On Monday, The Trentonian exclusively reported and published a video of Parrey calling residents “hoodrats” last year.
“There’s a lot of kids out here,” Parrey says in the footage from a police body camera that was shot on Aug. 23 on the 500 block of Lamberton Street. “But even coming down earlier on, there’s a lot of hoodrats out, up and down. Just send them on their way.”
Parrey was speaking with two African-American police officers during the encounter just after 6 p.m.
After no apology surfaced by Wednesday afternoon, Jackson’s former opponent released a statement calling for Parrey’s resignation. The unsuccessful 2014 mayoral candidate said that police must develop a relationship with the community “based on cooperation, collaboration and mutual respect.”
“Not what we saw displayed here in this video,” Perez said on Facebook. “The fact that Eric Jackson, a black man does not understand this is reprehensible! Parrey does not get a free pass and should resign immediately.”
Perez did not return messages seeking comment.
On Tuesday, Jackson stood by his police director despite the lack of apology.
“The guy is of high integrity,” the first-term mayor said. “He’s done a great job as a police director for me and for this city.”
Jackson said there were discussions about discipline, but the mayor would not elaborate, classifying the situation as a “personnel matter.”
“I didn’t like the choice of words that he used,” the mayor said Tuesday. “As leaders — myself included with my entire cabinet — we have to mindful of words that we use. Words matter. Because while we intend it one way, they can be interpreted many different ways.”
There is a precedent for officers being disciplined for using the term “hoodrat.”
In 2015, a Florida police officer was fired for commenting on social media “Typical hoodrat behavior” about a fight involving African-Americans at a restaurant. The Fort Lauderdale officer’s punishment was later changed to a 10day suspension without pay.
City activist Darren “Freedom” Green said Monday that the director’s use of the derogatory word with racial overtones used to describe individuals engaged in criminal activity was “absolutely deplorable.”
“It’s no difference than people who are Caucasian utilizing the N-word and paralleling it to people in the black community who are black,” the well-respected community activist said. “It is inappropriate and unacceptable and whenever you do stuff like that, you set the tone for disrespect.”
Trenton police said the department’s leader was “participating in a schoolyear kickoff” when he made the comment. There were several calls made to police about disorderly persons in the area, and the final call was about a group of males fighting on the street that Parrey couldn’t locate, police said.
Parrey’s apology was sent to another local media outlet hours before it was provided to The Trentonian, despite the city’s tabloid publishing the only stories on the issue on Monday and Tuesday. Police and city officials tried to shape the story by having a say in how it was written and handpicking what Trentonian reporter wrote it.
Parrey’s “hoodrats” comment is not the first time he was put in the hot seat.
In April 2016, the police director was brought before council at a disciplinary hearing to discuss how he treated Councilwoman Marge Caldwell-Wilson and a city resident.
“I couldn’t even get a word out of my mouth and you jumped up and started screaming at me that this council asks too many questions,” Caldwell-Wilson said at the time, adding she asked Jackson’s chief of staff to remove Parrey for being disrespectful. “I left here shaking and ended up in tears.”
The North Ward councilwoman said she was disrespected as a woman, and had anyone acted that way to Parrey’s daughter or wife, he “might have been inclined to want to throw a punch.”
A resident, Delores Harrison, said she was also disrespected by Parrey after a March 17 council meeting.
“I’m very passionate about what I do,” Parrey explained at the time. “And it doesn’t come across well all the time, I realize that. I apologize if my ways don’t conform to the ways that you are accustomed to, but I come as a package. I make no excuses for my behavior because I don’t think there needs to be.”
Parrey, a retired city police captain, said he has served Trenton and its residents for more than 31 years in his latest apology.
“My commitment has been, and will always be, to create a bond between the community and its police department in order to make the City of Trenton a place where people feel proud and safe to live, work, visit and play,” the police director said.