Police chief resigns after putting Ku Klux Klan sign on Black officer's desk

[SummerMadness]

Sheffield Lake police chief resigns after putting Ku Klux Klan sign on Black officer's desk

Police Chief Anthony Campo resigned Tuesday following an incident in which he left a "Ku Klux Klan" sign on a Black officer's desk, Sheffield Lake Mayor Dennis Bring said.

The incident in question, which happened Friday, was captured on surveillance video inside the department’s booking area.


Campo, who has been with the department for 33 years and served as chief for eight, is seen in the video walking into a room with a piece of paper in his hand that says, "Ku Klux Klan." He walks to a desk and places the note on a yellow jacket laid out to resemble the infamous hood and robe synonymous with the American hate group.

He walks out of the room to wait for the officer, an unidentified Black man, to come into the room.

It's just a prank!

 

[ColoRaydo]

It probably was just a prank. However, in today’s hypersensitivity to anything race related, anyone making racial jokes in a work environment, ESPECIALLY a person in a leadership position, shows an incredible, almost unbelievable, lack of judgement. If the mayor of that town didn’t fire the chief, he would get recalled. Lawyers looking to make a name for themselves would be lining up to sue the chief, the mayor, the city and anyone who even giggled at the “prank”.

Simply put, the chief was an idiot.

 

[Sketcher]

Sounds like a prank to me.

The problem with pranks is it's too easy to overshoot and actually harm someone. I avoid them as a general rule.

 

[Mike from NJ]

It amazes me when some people lack the barest smidgen of compassion like this chief. How is this a prank? Sure, it would cause someone to get a reaction; but the question is what kind. This is on par with leaving a note on someone's desk saying they've kidnapped that person's child, then when the person becomes distraught the pranker goes, "Ha! I fooled you!"

This has nothing to do with the sensitivity of our culture. This isn't some borderline issue where something said is being interpreted in different ways, and we have to look at it based on its context. There is absolutely no context or culture where putting symbols of a group who have a history of murdering people like the victim can be considered even slightly as a joke.

 

[Michie]

Sheffield Lake police chief resigns after putting Ku Klux Klan sign on Black officer's desk
It's just a prank!

Wow.

 

[Hank77]

That would be like leaving a note for a Jewish person that says Auschwitz.

 

[cow451]

Sheffield Lake police chief resigns after putting Ku Klux Klan sign on Black officer's desk
It's just a prank!

Any idiot pulling that type of prank is not leadership material.

 

[Ceallaigh]

Unfortunately this world has people with warped minds in it. Even people in leadership positions. I recently watched a documentary about a military base commanding officer who turned out to be a serial killer.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Sheffield Lake police chief resigns after putting Ku Klux Klan sign on Black officer's desk
It's just a prank!

As Ron White says "You can't fix stupid". But I guess you can make it resign.

 

[FireDragon76]

Unfortunately this world has people with warped minds in it. Even people in leadership positions. I recently watched a documentary about a military base commanding officer who turned out to be a serial killer.

That's a feature, not a bug. Psychopaths and narcissists often gravitate towards institutions that are highly hierarchical, because they want influence and power over other people. So you'll find above-average numbers of psychopaths in professions like medicine, law enforcement, the military, and churches.

 

[Whyayeman]

'Please stop calling me Sambo.'

'Can't you take a joke?'

(The get-out clause of every petty racist.)