Superior Court Judge Josh Willey on Thursday declined to release an audio and video recording of the racist, violent conversations between three fired Wilmington Police officers that led to their dismissal.

The city of Wilmington and the Wilmington Police Department were asking the judge to release the recordings, which they say capture former officers Jesse E. Moore II, Michael “Kevin” Piner and James “Brian” Gilmore using racist, violent language during conversations with each other.

On June 24, the city and the WPD released transcripts made from the recordings, captured when a device in one of the officers’ cars was accidentally activated. 

But Willey said he was not going to release the audio/video because of the “risk of danger” that the release would lead to violence, though he allowed that it’s “tough to say how great that risk is.”