In Wilmington, despite the clearly anti-Black sentiments of the three officers being caught on video, they all denied being racist, and pointed to “the stress of today’s law enforcement environment” as the reason for their conversations. When reached for comment, a public affairs and diversity and inclusion officer for the Wilmington Police Department (whose email signature included a quote from the civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) again emphasized the officers' morale.

While the comments made by these officers happened to be caught on tape, it begs a larger question about all the racist actions of the police that aren’t.