YouTube A video of the Ohio police chief who resigned
An Ohio police chief resigns after video emerges showing the chief, Anthony Campo, putting a Ku Klux Klan sign on a Black officer’s desk.
The incident occurred in Sheffield Lake, Ohio, where the department’s website declares that: “The Department’s main goal is to protect and keep safe residents, employees of local businesses and visitors to our city. While enforcement of established ordinances, state and federal law is a priority, members of the department help residents stay safe through prevention and education programs as well.”
The resignation and details of the incident were confirmed to Cleveland.com by Sheffield Lake’s mayor Dennis Bring. Heavy.com has reached out to the city for additional details. According to Cleveland.com, the piece of paper Campo put on the desk in a booking area read “Ku Klux Klan.”
You can watch the video below.
Here’s what you need to know:
The Video Shows Campo With the Piece of Paper
The video shows Campo walking with a piece of paper toward a desk with a yellow jacket sitting on it. He picks up the jacket briefly before putting it back on the desk.
He then leaves and goes into another area. The jacket seems to have its hood up, which Cleveland.com wrote was fashioned to resemble a KKK hood, and there’s now a piece of paper on it. A few seconds later, a Black officer comes into the area and sees the paper and jacket.
“No post about your lousy former police chief, the racist? Are you cowards? Apparently, yes. Face the music, don’t cower behind your desks,” a person wrote on the department’s Facebook page, which hasn’t addressed the matter.
Campo, Who Was With the Department for Three Decades, Claimed It Was a Joke But the Mayor Disagreed
Ohio police chief seen putting ‘Ku Klux Klan’ note on Black officer’s desk resigns t.co/8iueocNw7w
According to Cleveland.com, Campo served as chief of the department for eight years but had been with the police force for 33. The mayor told the newspaper the chief claimed the note and jacket were a “prank.”
The Black officer, who was not named, has only been on the force for nine months.
“He thought this was just a joke,” Bring said to Cleveland.com. “How can you possibly think that you can put something on somebody’s jacket like that, and especially if they were African American, and think this is a joke? This is the most egregious and offensive thing you could possibly do. And it’s embarrassing and disgusting.”
The Morning Journal reported that Campo resigned on June 29, 2021.
Bring told that newspaper he received a complaint from the police union. “I don’t know what was going through that man’s mind. I don’t have a clue. And like I said, that’s what he keeps saying. I think everybody else’s views of what he did is not a joke,” the mayor told that outlet.
“When we went down to the police chief’s (Campo) office, he was standing there and he jokingly said to me, ‘what am I fired?’” Bring said to the Morning Journal. The mayor told the newspaper he gave the chief 10 minutes to leave the premises. He said the Black officer was upset but is receiving a lot of support and wants to stay with the department. The mayor told the newspaper he acted fast to ensure the public this is not the nature of the community. Technically, Campo retired, the newspaper reported.
For his part, Campo told the newspaper he is not a racist and commented, “I had a joking back and forth banter with that officer, since I hired him.” He said he plans to issue an apology and thought he was being funny.
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