Meridian Police officer Joey Lawn was fired this week for using a racial slur towards a black person during a training session in 2018. Captain John Griffith was demoted to lieutenant for failing to take appropriate disciplinary action against Lawn when it first became known that he used the N-word on the job in 2018.
Lawn had been a K-9 officer with the Meridian Police Department for over 10 years according to the news, but is that accurate? A public records search produced one result for Joey Lawn in the state of Mississippi. That result was for a Joseph Harold Lawn age 28 in Meridian, Mississippi. Now, could this be a different Joey Lawn? Yes, it could, but it probably is not, so unless the Meridian Police Department hires 18 year old kids then he is not a 10 year veteran or the record is not accurate.