Florida Police Chief Reportedly Retires After Complaints of Promoting 'Blacker' Members

The retirement came after two policemen from Fort Lauderdale complained that they had reportedly been “passed over for promotions based on race, sexual orientation and gender”.

Florida Police Chief Larry Scirotto has been dismissed for practicing discriminatory promotions, illegally based on race, CNN reported on Monday, citing a report from a law firm.

Scirotto, who was appointed as head of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department in August last year, was being investigated after a number of staffers complained that his management of hiring and promotions was conducted illegally.

The report alleges that 48-year-old Scirotto, who was the first openly gay chief hired in Fort Lauderdale, created a “divisive atmosphere” in the department and once pointed to a conference room wall with photos of policemen, saying “that wall is too white” and “I’m gonna change that”.

In another incident he wondered “which one is blacker?” while opting between two candidates for promotion, something that the former chief has denied.

“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.”

In an interview with CNN, Scirotto earlier noted that he’d promoted 15 people between August and November, with only six of them being ethnic or gender minorities. He has also claimed that the people of colour “deserved to be promoted”.

“The promotions that I made are of the minority candidates, were because they were exceptional candidates, and they excelled in every level of the organisation,” he reportedly said. “They deserved to be promoted, and by the way, they happened to be minority. It wasn’t because they were minority.”

Nevertheless, the investigation showed that the promotions were unjustified, according to Fort Lauderdale City Manager Chris Lagerbloom. He said that city’s community “strive to be diverse” but “there’s just certain lawful ways to allow that diversity to happen”.

“In this case, the investigative report indicated we didn’t quite follow the law in how we were working towards those diverse positions,” he told 7News.