The chief of the New York Police Department’s Workplace Discrimination Office (NYPD) was relieved of his duties and put on a changed service after a city council investigation found hundreds of racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic comments on a police message board.
Investigators believe that Assistant Inspector James Kobel sent hundreds of offensive messages on The Rant’s message board, “Law Enforcement Rant”, between July 2019 and September 2020. Kobel’s messages attacked black people, Muslims, the Hasidic Jewish community, and the LGBTQ community using an extremely derogatory language called “Clouseau”.
According to NBC 4 New York, Kobel called Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark a “gnu with tooth gaps” and joked about lawyer Jumaane Williams, who suffers from Tourette’s syndrome. Kobel also called former President Barack Obama a “Muslim savage” and the son of Mayor Bill de Blasio, Dante, a “Brillohead”.
De Blasio commented on the news about Kobel, saying that if the allegations are true, Kobel will be fired.
This hideous, racist language is an attack on every New Yorker and an insult to the values of our city
This will be investigated and if it is true he will be fired. End of the story. https://t.co/3s4NzuknxD
– Major Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) November 6, 2020
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea also has harsh words for Kobel, who describe his actions as “hideous” and “utterly disgusting”.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo asked why the Message Board existed in the first place, saying the comments were widespread, but nobody in the department did anything about it.
Speaking to the New York Times, Kobel said it wasn’t he who sent the news, but added that the allegations alone were enough to end his career.
“Despite my rejection, it will likely end my career,” Kobel told the Times. “Where do I go to get my reputation back?”
Kobel has been with the NYPD for more than 25 years and served as a deputy in the Equal Opportunities Office (EEO) for four years before being named commander earlier this year.
The EEO office is responsible for the prevention and investigation of employment and harassment claims. The office recently allowed officials to wear religious headgear and provided lactation rooms for NYPD officials who are also mothers.
City council investigators linked the news with Kobel by matching the information in the “Clouseau” news with publicly available details about Kobel’s life and career. Investigators found that both Kobel and Clouseau had joined the force at the same time, held the same rank last year and, among other things, worked in the same NYPD Housing Bureau as former boss Joanne Jaffe.
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