FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A police chief in Florida has been given the boot after an investigation discovered that he engaged in discriminatory promotion practices, and at one point remarked, “that wall is too white” when viewing photographs of the agency’s command staff.
Chief Larry Scirotto of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department was terminated by the city manager on Thursday, according to a city press statement. The now unemployed police chief had been the city’s top cop for less than a year after previously working as an assistant chief in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, reported Newsweek.
Scirotto’s firing followed several discrimination complaints that alleged the top cop made hiring and promotion decisions based on an illegal race-based approach.
When Scirotto, 48, — who is mixed race — was hired by Fort Lauderdale last August, he became the first openly gay police chief, the New York Post reported.
In October two Fort Lauderdale officers alleged they had been passed over for promotions based on race, sexual orientation and gender, according to the Sun Sentinel. In response, City Manager Chris Lagerbloom reportedly put a halt to the process in order to “address concerns surrounding the recent police department promotions.”
After an investigation was completed, a 12-page report documents the bias as outlined in the complaints. Moreover, it concluded that Scirotto created a “divisive atmosphere” in the department, and that he once pointed to a conference room wall of photos of the department’s command staff and declared, “that wall is too white,” and “I’m gonna change that,” according to CNN.
At one point when Scirotto was considering candidates for promotion, he reportedly said, “which one is blacker,” according to the investigation. He denied making the statement.
The investigation quoted the short tenured chief as saying he intended to “consider diversity at every opportunity.”
“One witness reportedly said, ‘minority status is not related to the darkness of the pigment of their skin’ and ‘you can’t choose someone based on their skin color.’ The chief replied, ‘which one will be more acceptable to the community’ or ‘is this an accurate reflection of the community?'” Newsweek reported, quoting from the the investigative report.
By focusing on race, gender and sexual orientation, the chief created a divisive atmosphere, according to the investigation.
“Overall, there is a very divisive atmosphere within the department based on the perception the chief is intentionally using race, gender and sexual orientation as attributes necessary for promotions,” the report reads. “While the goal to diversify is an important and laudable goal it must be accomplished in a legally permissible manner.”
Scirotto told CNN, the report was “vague on the facts.”
Scirotto tried to defend his actions during an interview with WSVN, insisting the non-white candidates “deserved to be promoted.”
“Those minority groups are now being treated as if they were less than deserving, and that’s not the case, and it never was,” he told the news outlet.
“The promotions that I made are of the minority candidates, were because they were exceptional candidates, and they excelled in every level of the organization,” he said. “They deserved to be promoted, and by the way, they happened to be minority. It wasn’t because they were minority.”
Fort Lauderdale City Manager Chris Lagerbloom said on Friday the report revealed the diversity promotion was conducted illegally, the Post reported.
“We strive to be diverse in our organization. We strive to represent the community that we serve. There’s just certain lawful ways to allow that diversity to happen,” he said, according to WSVN, “and in this case, the investigative report indicated we didn’t quite follow the law in how we were working towards those diverse positions.”
