A US police officer sues boss over KKK records

A black police officer in Ohio filed a discrimination complaint after allegedly receiving a racist letter from a senior official. Officer Keith Poole filed the complaint after a video of Sheffield Lakes Police Chief Anthony Campo, who placed a piece of paper on his desk that read “Ku Klux Klan (KKK),” emerged last June.

Mr. Campo is also believed to have been involved in the ongoing racist abuse of Mr. Poole. Campo has since stepped down and said his actions were a “joke.” Poole, who became Sheffield Lake’s first black officer in 2020. Told reporters at a news conference Thursday that his initial reaction was shocked and simply asked the police chief at the time, “Are you serious?”

“What more can you say to the chief of police who did something so disgusting and so terrible to the first black officer?” It’s incomprehensible,” he said.

Keith Poole, 57, said Campo’s actions were part of a pattern of racist behavior.

They said it included wearing a pointed hat of the KKK – a supreme white race organization – which he did in front of his colleagues, “constantly” harassing Mr. Poole. And creating racially offensive images mocking him and other officers, “the one and only.” A Latin American officer in the division.”

Mr. Campo resigned after being released on holiday by the city’s mayor in July. At the time, he told local news channel Channel 5 that he was only joking during the incident.

“It was just an out-of-control joke. I hired this officer at the police station, he is great with kids, and I helped save his job. After he risked being fired from another department due to age restrictions,” he said. Poole also claimed that senior officials knew about the boss’s behavior but did not stop the harassment.