On Sunday, Oct. 29, a photo was circulated on social media of a university police officer dressed as a caricature of Colin Kaepernick. The costume included a red shirt resembling a 49ers jersey, painted beard, an afro wig, fake nose and a sign that reads, “Will stand for food.”

The Nevada Sagebrush anonymously received another picture Monday that shows the officer, Antonio Gutierrez, posing with an individual dressed as President Donald Trump giving the middle finger to “Kaepernick.”

Police Chief Adam Garcia released a statement on Sunday apologizing for the original picture of Gutierrez, though he did not name the football player in his apology.

“Members of our profession are held to a higher standard and denigrating another—on or off duty—is insensitive for its lack of respect and lack of understanding on how others may negatively view their actions and may be impacted,” Garcia said.

This photo comes about a month after graduate student Kevin McReynolds was told by a different university police officer “I’m just going to shoot him if this goes sideways because f— that.” during a traffic stop on Sept. 24.

McReynolds released a statement last week calling for the University of Nevada, Reno to prioritize diversity.

Garcia expressed that he has heard from community members that they felt unsafe and that he understands their concerns.

“Behavior such as this magnifies unsafe feelings and lack of trust in police, especially when that individual is responsible for the safety of all members of the University, regardless of color, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religion,” Garcia said.

There was no mention of any disciplinary action for the officer or a mention of his name.

ASUN’s Department of Diversity will be holding a discussion at the Blind Onion in the Joe Crowley Student Union on Nov. 7 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. with University Police Services. Members of the university community are welcome to come and ask questions related to these incidents.

Read Adam Garcia’s full statement below:

For those who have seen the Halloween costume of one of our officers apparently mocking a citizen who has chosen to take advantage of his constitutional right to protest, I offer my sincere apologies. Members of our profession are held to a higher standard and denigrating another – on or off duty – is insensitive for its lack of respect and lack of understanding on how others may negatively view their actions and may be impacted.

I have heard from many members of our community over the past few weeks that they feel unsafe on campus because of our current social and political climate. Behavior such as this magnifies unsafe feelings and lack of trust in police, especially when that individual is responsible for the safety of all members of the University, regardless of color, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religion. At a time when officers should be heightened in their attentiveness to perception by our community, this act seems extremely out of touch with those sentiments and reflects poorly on all of us.

To regain the trust of our students, and in particular those of color, will be a challenge and will be a priority through continued education, training and conversation.

– Adam Garcia, Assistant Vice President & Director, Police Services, University of Nevada, Reno

Karolina Rivas can be reached at mpurdue@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @karolinarrivas.