According to Wiki 2/3 of the population is white, so I’m guessing this isn’t a race thing. Maybe during the 37 years the previous mayor ran things not everything was on the up and up.
Read the comments, the chief was there for 37 years and the cops who quit all erased their hard drives. She ran on a “clean up the city “ platform. This is a case of rats fleeing a sinking ship, not racism. But the media knows that most people will see the headline and look no further.