Houston City Council Member Julian Ramirez called the behavior of 12 Houston Fire Training Academy cadets “regrettable and very disappointing” after they circulated racist content in a private Instagram group chat. They were even bold enough to continue their racist behavior online even after receiving warnings to stop...and for that they paid the ultimate price.
Once officials confirmed the group resumed sharing “rude” and “crass” things anyway, they decided enough was enough. Just six days before their scheduled graduation after an eight-month training program, the cadets were terminated following an internal investigation.
HFD sources did not specify the chat’s contents, but they said it contained “inappropriate memes and images.” In a written statement, Chief Thomas Munoz addressed the situation, saying how, “Racism and hateful behavior have no home in Mayor Whitmire’s administration or the Houston Fire Department.”
During the first week of the academy, cadets are ordered to undergo anti-discrimination and anti-harassment training. According to reports, the department was tipped off about the racist social media group by a fellow cadet in the most recent graduating class. Afterwards, the cadets were required to complete yet another round of anti-discrimination training.
The financial impact of the decision is also significant. The city spends approximately $100K — each — to train individual cadets, KHOU 11 reports. “The city has invested so much money in these cadets and then they made mistakes, were warned about it and continued on their course of action and had to be fired,” Ramirez said, per ABC 13. “$1.2 million could pay for a lot of things we need,” he added when asked about the city’s tight budget.
Ramirez wants the city to explore possible legal avenues to reclaim training costs when cases of misconduct arise. “There should be a mechanism for the city to recoup its investment when the cadet messes up in that fashion,” Ramirez said.
HFD said, per KHOU 11, only 27 cadets made it to the graduation swearing-in on April 24.