A white police chief in Ohio has retired after he was seen placing a note saying “Ku Klux Klan” and a jacket displayed in the KKK’s style on a black officer’s desk.
Anthony Campo was caught in CCTV footage and resigned from the force after Sheffield Lake Mayor Dennis Bring confronted him on Tuesday.
The police union representing the black officer filed a harassment complaint against Mr Campo and the mayor was alerted to the incident by the city law director.
Mr Campo had served in the force for 33 years
The video shows Mr Campo and the officer talking briefly after he discovered the note and jacket on his desk.
Mr Bring said Mr Campo, a white male officer, told him it was a prank but Mr Bring described it as “embarrassing and disgusting”.
Mr Campo served as a Sheffield Lake police officer for three decades and was chief for the last eight.
The black officer has been with the department for less than 12 months.
The mayor said he and the officer cried during a conversation about what happened.
“I apologised to him,” Mr Bring said. “This is not a mistake. This is something so egregious I can’t describe it.”
The officer filed a harassment complaint against Mr Campo, which is when the town’s mayor was alerted
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Another KKK-related dismissal at a US police force occurred in 2019, when an officer in Michigan was fired from the Muskegon Police Department after a disciplinary hearing.
Charles Anderson, who is white, was placed on administrative leave after a prospective house buyer said he saw a framed KKK application and multiple Confederate flags at his home.
The police force opened an investigation into Mr Anderson and after a hearing he was sacked.
In 2009, Mr Anderson fatally shot a 23-year-old unarmed black man but was cleared in of any wrongdoing and the shooting was determined to be an act of self-defence.