Kentucky State Police are under fire after a high school newspaper reported that their training guide for cadets included several quotes by Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and encouraged violence.
A local lawyer gave students who run Louisville’s duPont Manual High School’s newspaper, Manual RedEye, a 33-page slide show used during training for Kentucky State Police. The attorney, David Ward of Adams Landenwich Walton, received the documents through an open-records request for a lawsuit against the police agency, according to a report by the Washington Post.
During the slide show, Hitler was quoted three times in the training manual. One of the slides, titled “Violence of Action,” included a passage from Hitler’s Mein Kampf, which read: “The very first essential for success is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence.”
Several pages of the slide show included warrior iconography phrases, encouraging officers to “possess certain traits” and “protect certain things” at all costs. The controversial warrior training style has been met with criticism over accusations that it leads to officers immediately turning to violence and excessive force.
The training guide also used a quote by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee expressing the need to be masculine above anything else.
Louisville has been at the center of debate for police reform following the death of Breonna Taylor, a black 26-year-old emergency room technician who was fatally shot by police who raided her apartment using a “no-knock warrant” in March.
A number of state officials have openly condemned the training materials that have come to light, including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, who called them “unacceptable.”
“We will collect all the facts and take immediate corrective action,” Beshear said.
Rep. John Yarmuth said on Twitter that he was “genuinely disturbed” by the materials as a Jewish American and called for immediate action.
“I am angry. As a Kentuckian, I am angry and embarrassed,” Yarmuth said. “And as a Jewish American, I am genuinely disturbed that there are people like this who not only walk among us, but who have been entrusted to keep us safe. There needs to be consequences.”
I am angry. As a Kentuckian, I am angry and embarrassed. And as a Jewish American, I am genuinely disturbed that there are people like this who not only walk among us, but who have been entrusted to keep us safe. There needs to be consequences. https://t.co/Bpu6b1eJWr
— Rep. John Yarmuth (@RepJohnYarmuth) October 30, 2020
The Anti-Defamation League, an organization fighting anti-Semitism, said they would get involved with the state to figure out what happened and prevent such materials from being used in the future.
It is entirely inexcusable for the words of Hitler to be used in training Kentucky State Police. ADL is actively working in the state to determine what happened and ensure it doesn’t happen again. https://t.co/4XNb64TTUa
— ADL (@ADL) October 30, 2020
Though it’s unknown when the slide show was created, Morgan Hall, communications director for the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, told RedEye the materials hadn’t been used for training since 2013.
“It is unacceptable that this material was ever included in the training of law enforcement,” Hall said. “Our administration does not condone the use of this material.”
Police brutality and racial injustice in policing became national topics of concern after several black people were killed or shot by officers over the past year.
