Hitler quotes, Nazi symbols found in Kentucky State Police training materials

On Oct. 30, 2020, a student newspaper at duPont Manual High School in Louisville, Kentucky, leaked a Kentucky State Police training slideshow called “The Warrior Mindset.” The presentation contained quotations from Adolf Hitler and advocated for the “regular employment of violence” against perceived civilian threats. Critics have condemned the slideshow as racist and open promotion of violence. 

Key Players

Politicians, Jewish groups, and other Kentucky residents have all called out the Kentucky State Police for including the presentation in its training, according to The New York Times. Earlier in 2020, Kentucky State Police assisted the Louisville Metro Police Department during protests over the killing of Breonna Taylor, a Black emergency room technician shot by Louisville Metro Police when they raided her apartment in March. During a subsequent investigation, the state police provided a ballistics report to the state attorney general before he ruled that the officers who shot Taylor were justified in doing so, The Times reported.

The Manual Redeye, the student newspaper at duPont Manual High School, released 33 slides from the presentation on Oct. 30, 2020. Satchel and Cooper Walton — sons of a civil rights lawyer suing a Kentucky police trooper for killing a man, Bradley Grant, in 2018 — first broke the story. Another lawyer in the case, David Ward, said the trooper would have seen the presentation while undergoing training in 2013, according to The Times. 

Further Details

The Manual Redeye obtained the presentation through open records. It was made public during the discovery phase of a lawsuit against the state police officer who killed Grant. In the days that followed, leading publications took up the story, lending credence to the student journalists. 

Kentucky State Police had used the “Warrior Mindset” slideshow to train its cadets until 2013. The presentation encouraged each officer to become a “ruthless killer” and to “always fight to the death.” It also included quotations from Adolf Hitler’s 1925 manifesto, Mein Kampf. One quotation reads, “The very first essential for success is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence.” The presentation cites other historical figures such as Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, and Confederate General Robert E. Lee, but it quotes Hitler more than anyone else. 

In addition, the presentation reportedly advocates for police violence. For instance, one slide titled “Violence of Action” repeatedly cites Hitler and urges that each trooper “be the loving father, spouse, and friend as well as the ruthless killer.” Critics believe this wording was intended to convince troopers they are under constant threat, one that can only be met with violence. 

At the time of the report’s publication, Kentucky police were already facing backlash for violent policing incidents. Although no state troopers were involved in the shooting of Breonna Taylor, many were subsequently deployed to help contain riots that erupted throughout the state. 

 In 2018, one state trooper fatally shot Grant, who allegedly confronted him with a shotgun during an on-foot police chase, WYMT reported. David Ward, a lawyer suing the officer who killed Grant, has claimed the training methods help explain many officers’ aggressive behavior on duty. In response to the presentation, Ward said, “This type of training — these quotes — creates a mindset that these troopers are at war, that they need to come to work ready for battle,” according to The Times. He went on to say that when confronted with someone suffering a mental health crisis, such training makes the trooper less likely to respond rationally. 

Outcome

Slideshow draws backlash

The training presentation has been met with widespread criticism from Jewish groups and Kentucky residents. Additionally, on Oct. 30, 2020, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) called the slides “absolutely unacceptable.” In a statement obtained by The Times, Beshear also vowed to respond: “It is further unacceptable that I just learned about this through social media. We will collect all the facts and take immediate corrective action.” 

Kentucky State Police have not apologized 

Despite widespread criticism, the Kentucky State Police have yet to apologize. The New York Times reports that Morgan Hall, a spokesperson for the agency that oversees the state police, claimed the slide show was removed in 2013. However, she declined to clarify or answer any additional questions posed by The Times. According to the Manual Redeye, Hall called the material “unacceptable” and said the police “administration does not condone the use of this material.” She asserted that her office would “begin an internal review.” However, as of Dec. 27, 2020, neither the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet nor the state police had issued an apology.

Nazi symbols discovered in 2020 training materials

On Nov. 30, 2020, Kentucky state officials, including Beshear, confirmed that a police training video featuring a Nazi symbol had been approved for use as recently as September, the Lexington Herald Leader reported. The hourlong video, entitled “911 Response to the Drug Epidemic,” was discovered while reviewing materials for an open records request regarding an in-service training course for telecommunicators, according to Nicolai Jilek, commissioner of the Department of Criminal Justice Training. 

Included in the video was a six-minute clip in which a “Black Sun” Nazi symbol was depicted. Beshear called the image offensive and said it “should never have been part of any training video on drug addiction, and once the image was recognized, the video was immediately removed,” according to the Lexington Herald Leader. 

Although Hall said the Department of Criminal Justice Training could not confirm the source of the video, student reporters from the Redeye, which again broke the story, claimed it came from an antisemitic group that blamed Jewish people for the opioid epidemic. 

Rabbi Shlomo Litvin, a Jewish faith leader from Lexington, called the training video dangerous, the Lexington Herald Leader reported. “The fact that a state agency would promote such a video shows a remarkable lack of judgment and suggests underlying antisemitism in the [department],” he said.