VALDOSTA – A Valdosta police officer has been disciplined after a video surfaced online showing the detective using profanity during a drug investigation.

Valdosta Police Department was conducting the investigation April 12 when a heated exchange occurred between the detective and residents of a home. The residents video taped the encounter and uploaded it to YouTube the next day.

“We were made aware of this video a couple of days ago,” said VPD Chief Brian Childress. “There has never been an official complaint filed on this. However, a citizen sent me the video, and immediately I forwarded it to one of my deputy chiefs, and we investigated it.”

The internal investigation determined the detective violated department policy during the incident and was disciplined. Childress said he would not comment on the exact nature of the discipline because it is a personnel matter.

“I spoke with him myself. He understands what he did wrong,” Childress said. “He has been with us for a few years. He’s a good detective, but he made a mistake, and I dealt with it. I’m confident that this won’t happen again. I’ve never had any issues with this detective. There is no pattern of this detective using profane language or losing his temper, and that is why he was not terminated. But he was disciplined, and at this point I consider the matter closed.”

The video shows the unidentified residents repeatedly claim they are not involved with narcotics.

“We were obviously over there for a reason,” Childress said. “Now, I’m not going to jeopardize an open investigation, but my review of it determined they had every right to be over there.”

Although it is not seen in the video, Childress confirmed that one of the residents was carrying a handgun while talking with police.

“They were doing a narcotics investigation at the location of the video, and although I will not condone officers using profanity and yelling there was more to the video than what has been shown,” Childress said. “In fact my review of it found that my officers was wrong in his conduct and his language, but the actions of some other folks while he was doing his investigation was also wrong. But in either case, the fact of the matter is that he is a police officer, and I’m not going to tolerate that.”