A top Australian cop has resigned from his post after being linked to pornographic and racist content that he posted under his alleged online pseudonym Vernon Demerest.
Victoria state's Assistant Commissioner Brett Guerin resigned from his post after Melbourne's The Age revealed numerous crude YouTube posts he had written under his pseudonym. One post included references to "Third world dullards" and "Indian and Pakistani peasant(s)," the newspaper said.
"It is behaviour that is completely and utterly unacceptable at Victoria Police," Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton told reporters, according to AFP.
"There are a lot of shocked people ... It's completely out of character with what we know the assistant commissioner has been doing."
Besides racist remarks, Guerin had also written sexually explicit comments about a former female colleague.
Guerin admitted to his mistake and told a Melbourne radio station that he understood it was inappropriate. "The language I used ... was completely inappropriate, embarrassing and I can understand people saying 'what the hell is this bloke doing?'," he said. "The reason I did it under a fake name is clearly if I had gone in with my own name, it would have been associated with Victoria Police."
Racism is nothing new in Australia. According to a All Together Now report, one in five people living in the country have experienced racial abuse or discrimination. All Together Now is an organisation that works towards preventing racism by promoting racial equality through education.
However, there's denial of racism in Australia.
"Australia has a culture of denial when it comes to racism," the organisation said in a post on its webpage. "Denial of racism in Australia perpetuates racist behaviour. Speaking up reduces racism by helping perpetrators understand that their views are in the minority, making them less likely to engage in prejudice and stereotyping behaviour."
