Nearly six months after a white police chief in Sheffield Lake, Ohio left a racist note on his desk, Officer Keith Pool is speaking out about the incident, NBC News reported. Pool, who is Black, described Anthony Campo's action as "demeaning."

The disgraced chief was fired in June after he was caught on surveillance video. The footage showed Campo printing out a "Ku Klux Klan" note and placing it on a raincoat which was sitting on Pool's desk. According to Pool, Campo also invited other white officers to see the note and laugh with him. But his colleagues declined to partake in the incident.

“It was not funny to them,” Pool said. “They walked away from it.” 


The 57-year-old Black policeman and his attorneys have now filed a discrimination charge with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. As they aim to show a pattern of race-based harassment, the legal team said Campo has repeatedly targeted Pool, who was the first Black officer to work at the agency.

According to the attorneys, Campo crafted a KKK-style hat out of paper at one point and told his colleague that he has to wear it on his next call. 

“It was so demeaning. It was so disrespectful to me,” Pool said. 

There was another incident that allegedly took place last year when Pool was about to be hired at the department. Campo, according to the attorneys, sent a photo of a vehicle on 20-inch rims with tinted windows to Pool instead of sending a picture of his new patrol car. 

“It said ‘Officer Pool, SRO,’” said Pool, who previously worked as a school resource officer.

Another incident allegedly took place during Halloween when Campo inserted a photo of Pool's face into a picture of the Grim Reaper and wrote a caption that read “The raccoon reaper.”

Sheffield Lake Mayor Dennis Bring said the chief was immediately fired after the June incident. 

“I said ‘You got ten minutes to get out of your office. You already have admitted to it. I want your keys and badge. That’s it. Get out,’” Bring said according to WKYC.