| Advertisement |
LOS ANGELES, May 2 (UPI) -- A top official in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has quit the force after it was reported he sent numerous emails with his official account jokingly mocking Muslims, blacks, Latinos, women and others, authorities said. The office of Sheriff Jim McConnell announced Sunday that chief of staff Tom Angel had submitted his resignation on the heels of a report in the Los Angeles Times that expressly detailed some of the sensitive emails.
Advertisement
McConnell wrote a lengthy post to his office's Facebook account Sunday outlining the controversy.
Before joining the sheriff's office, Angel was a deputy police chief in nearby Burbank. Officials said he sent the emails in 2012 and 2013, during his time there.
"Very recently I learned that three to four years ago LASD Chief Tom Angel shared inappropriate and unprofessional emails with others, during his service as Burbank Police Department assistant chief," McConnell's post read. "This incident is one that I find deeply troubling. Chief Angel has offered his resignation, and I have accepted it. I thank him for his many years of service, and wish him and his family well."
One email mentioned a history of violence committed by Muslim suspects, including the 1968 assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. The email, which appeared to have been forwarded multiple times, also states, "Muslims, gotta love 'em, can't punish 'em."
The email's content, of which the author is unknown, included another statement that reads, "No, I really don't see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you?"
The Times obtained the emails through an open records request.
"This incident reminds us that we and other law enforcement agencies still have work to do," McConnell wrote on Facebook, also outlining steps his office will take to mitigate similar behavior in the future.
"We will be meeting with constituent groups throughout the county to share thoughts and ideas about improving our understanding of the varied cultures and orientations and deepening our appreciation of the many ethnicities and religions that are part of the vibrant fabric of the population we serve. We will also examine our current training framework and evaluate our curriculum in these areas to maximize their effectiveness.
"In addition, we will assess existing policies and systems for ensuring accountability and enhancing cultural and ethnic sensitivity and professionalism among our personnel. For example, we will implement a new system of random audits of the email accounts of department personnel."
McConnell, elected sheriff in 2014, finished the post by saying state and national law enforcement communities need to hold themselves to a higher standard.
"The law enforcement profession must and can demand the highest standards of professionalism, fairness and constitutional policing -- individually and collectively -- from its personnel," he wrote. "We are only as effective as the relationships, credibility and trust we have with our community; this is a fundamental point that I and LASD personnel take very seriously."
Upset advocates demanded that Angel be fired or resign. Angel himself told the Times that he didn't mean to embarrass or demean anyone. He added that he believed it was unfortunate that his work emails could be obtained by the public under the state's records laws.
