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NYPD Officer Accused Of Racist Online Comments Is Suspended Without Pay
By
Sydney Pereira
Published Jan 10, 2021
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By
Sydney Pereira
Published Jan 10, 2021
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The NYPD officer tasked with anti-discrimination duties at the department who had an allegedly lengthy history of racist, bigoted remarks online has now been suspended without pay for 30 days, the police department confirmed.
In a City Council report released in November, Deputy Inspector James Francis Kobel was accused of posting repeated anonymous messages using a pseudonym on the Law Enforcement Rant, an online forum known for racist postings from current and retired cops.
When the report was revealed, Kobel was placed on "modified duty." The NY Post reported he was transferred from the NYPD's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, where he was commanding officer, to the transit borough command for the Bronx and Queens. Now, he has been suspended without pay. Kobel was collecting a $158,693 salary, on top of nearly $20,000 in other pay, in 2018, the last year that data is available.
NYPD spokesperson Detective Denise Moroney confirmed to Gothamist that Kobel was suspended without pay for 30 days and an internal disciplinary process has begun.
The department has had the report since mid-October.
In the report, investigators found that Kobel had described Black police officers as "f—cking animals" and made vile remarks under the pseudonym "Clouseau" on the Rant about Black elected officials, including Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, as well as racist slurs and attacks against Mayor Bill de Blasio's son, Dante, and the mother of Eric Garner, who was killed by officer Daniel Pantaleo. He also used misogynistic derogatory terms against former NYPD Chief Joanne Jaffe, who was his supervisor when he was in the department's Housing Bureau.
Kobel denied the allegations in a NY Times interview in November. Kobel's union, the Captains Endowment Association, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. The union leader Captain Chris Monahan told the NY Times in November that Kobel was a "dedicated professional" who "looks forward to being fully exonerated when all the facts come out."
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Sydney Pereira
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