Chris Lange, FISM News
The black Ohio police officer who was the subject of alleged racial discrimination and harassment by Sheffield County Police Chief Anthony Campo has come forward.
Attorneys for Officer Keith Pool, 57, on Thursday, filed an employment discrimination charge with the Ohio Civil Rights commission against Campo, who is white, citing multiple incidents of racial bigotry, harassment, and discrimination. One such incident involves Campo placing a “Ku Klux Klan” note on Pool’s coat, which was caught on surveillance video.
Prior to the filing, Pool’s identity had been withheld.
Pool’s counsel also filed a petition with the Ohio Supreme Court on his behalf, seeking police records they believe will expose Campo’s history of harassment and bigotry.
Following the release of the video in June, in which Campo can be seen standing at a copier machine and placing a piece of paper with the words “Ku Klux Klan” over a police label on the back of Pool’s raincoat, Sheffield Lake Mayor Dennis Bring asked the police chief to turn in his badge, according to a July CNN report.
Pool, the only black officer employed by the Sheffield County Police Department at the time, said that when he returned to his desk after seeing the sign, Campo called other officers over to look at it, whom Pool said were not amused. “It was so demeaning. It was so disrespectful to me,” he said in a videotaped news conference posted on his attorney’s website.
Campo, who worked for the city for 19 years and was police chief for eight, said the incident had been “overblown” and was merely an attempt at “off-color humor” in a telephone interview with Cleveland area WKYC. He also said he had “great respect” for Pool and denied being ousted from his position, saying, instead, that he retired.
Pool, who is still employed by the city, alleges several other troubling incidents, including Campo handing him a conical paper hat resembling those worn by KKK members and telling him to wear it on a call.
He also describes receiving a satirical photo of his supposed “new patrol car” depicting, instead, a vehicle with large rims and tinted windows captioned “Officer Pool, SRO,” referring to Pool’s previous employment as a school resource officer. Pool, a 19-year police veteran who joined the Sheffield Co. department in September of 2020, said the incident “threw” him but that he joined the department nonetheless.
Pool also stated that, at Halloween time, Campo placed an image of his head in a photo depicting the grim reaper captioned “The Raccoon Reaper” on the department’s bulletin board. He further accuses Campo of remarking that Pool and another black officer subsequently hired by the SCPD appeared to be driving a car with “tinted windows” because of the color of their skin. “It looked like y’all’s windows are tinted,” Pool quoted Campo as saying, adding that the windows were open at the time.
According to Pool, Campo frequently pulled over drivers with tinted windows, a practice that has drawn criticism from civil rights activists who say it unfairly targets people of color.
During the news conference, Pool attorney Ashlie Case Slevtold said Campo has a long history of discriminating against department employees based upon their race, gender, and sexual orientation.
Pool also alleges that Campo tried to prevent him from being hired, saying, “He told a detective, ‘Absolutely not,’ … He didn’t want me over there in the first place.”
According to Pool, Campo’s pattern of bigotry and discrimination was common knowledge. “A lot of people knew about him,” he said. “Nothing was done.”
In July, Campo said the allegations of harassment against Pool were manufactured by department staff who were “out to get him” for past disciplinary actions.