VA police chief didn’t want to hire minority cops because of ‘attitude’

DECATUR, Ga. – The now-suspended police chief at the Atlanta VA Medical Center once said in a staff meeting that she no longer wants to hire black or Hispanic officers because they “come with a lot of attitude.”

The FOX 5 I crew obtained audio recordings of Chief Beverly Banks during a September 13, 2023 command staff meeting attended by more than a dozen people.

“I’m to the point … I don’t want to hire any more black women,” Banks is heard telling the group. “I’m at that point. I don’t have white women knocking on my door to come in and work. But I wish they would. Because I don’t have these problems.”

But Chief Banks, who is also black, didn’t stop there.

“I don’t have Hispanic women. Hell, I don’t even want them. Because you know what comes with that? A lot of f—–g attitude. And I don’t want that. I’m the only one with an attitude in this place.

A second person at the meeting who asked not to be identified confirmed the authenticity of the recording to the FOX 5 I-Team.

I sent the record to the Veterans Administration.

In a statement to the FOX 5 I Team, a VA spokesperson said “there is no place for racism or discrimination at the VA, and these comments are unacceptable.”

The banks did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Banks was suspended with pay last month along with two other top commanders over what the VA called “unacceptable behavior” in the department, including “allegations of sexual assault and harassment.”

Chief Banks took over the Atlanta VA Medical Center Police Department in late 2022, inheriting an organization riddled with complaints involving favoritism and sexism.

Months before her arrival, VA Internal Affairs reviewed Shaneka Jackson’s case. She accused Deputy Chief Johnnie McCullor of sexual assault.

“I didn’t know what he was doing until it all started happening,” Jackson told the FOX 5 I-Team.

McCullor denied everything. But a 2022 VA investigation raised questions about his honesty and found Jackson to be “accurate and truthful.”

“I was honest,” Jackson said. – And nothing happened.

Jackson lost his job. McCullor remained deputy chief. And when Chief Banks took over, she kept him there. It is unclear whether she knew about the IA findings.

In December 2023, another black female officer filed a handwritten complaint with her supervisor, accusing McCullor of threatening to drag her down the hall by her hair.

It’s unclear what happened to the complaint, but at a department-wide meeting the following month, the chief told McCullor:

“Deputy Chief McCullor, if you don’t know how to talk to people, tell me now so I can do whatever I have to do to discipline you…again.”

“All three of them that were taken out and suspended were the catalyst for the problem there,” said former Virginia State Police Officer David Bennett. “And let me tell you, Randy, there’s two to three that have to go too.”

Bennett served in the Virginia State Police Department for five years. The combat veteran quit last month shortly after filing an EEOC complaint against Banks, accusing the boss of sharing confidential information about him with his supervisors.

“That created a toxic hostile work environment for me as an individual officer and I didn’t feel as comfortable working for management as I did before,” Bennett explained.

Bennett was at that department-wide meeting in January 2024, where Banks encouraged his officers to clear the air.

“I was made to look like a beast,” she told them. “I’m just the worst beast ever.”

But in the recordings provided to the FOX I team by one of the participants, the air was mostly filled with the boss’s voice.

“Y’all don’t understand what’s in me,” Chief Banks said. “And I’m so sorry you don’t.”

Meanwhile, the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs is demanding answers about the Atlanta VA Medical Center Police Department.

Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL) wants “all undisclosed internal investigations” involving the three top cops now off the job.