HARDLY A ‘JOKE’

Ohio Police Chief Resigns After Placing KKK Sign on Black Officer’s Desk

The longtime chief “thought this was just a joke,” the town’s mayor said.

An Ohio police chief has resigned after he was reportedly caught on surveillance video placing a Ku Klux Klan sign on the desk of a Black officer. Anthony Campo, the chief of the Sheffield Lake Police Department, was described by the town’s mayor as being anything but repentant after the incident. “He thought this was just a joke,” Mayor Dennis Bring was quoted as telling Cleveland.com, calling it “the most egregious and offensive thing you could possibly do.” Campo, a 33-year veteran of the force, reportedly placed a piece of paper emblazoned with “Ku Klux Klan” on the desk of a Black officer who’d been with the department for less than a year. In addition to the sign itself, Campo had apparently laid out a jacket to look like the robes worn by KKK members. He then sat in wait for the officer to come find the display.

According to the mayor, Campo insisted the incident was meant as a prank, and when informed of a harassment complaint over the sign, he simply smiled and asked, “So am I fired?” He then proceeded to type up his resignation letter before leaving. Bring said he had apologized personally to the officer at the receiving end of Campo’s sick “joke,” who was reportedly in shock. “It took us 10 minutes to talk to each other because we both sat there crying,” he said.