Gay Florida police chief fired for promoting officers of color
deployment of tear gas against protesters, the shoving of a kneeling protester, the shooting of a woman with a rubber bullet, and controversies stemming from the use of facial recognition technology to identify protestors — which critics have said has difficulty making accurate identifications of people of color.At the time, Scirotto said he wanted to ensure the department fostered better relations with people in the community who have historically been suspicious of, or had fraught relations with, police — a goal that many felt was a positive step. But in the fall, Scirotto promoted a list of minority employees, which led three white officers and one Hispanic officer to file complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that he was promoting people in a biased manner.The subsequent investigation into Scirotto’s actions found that “almost every witness,” out of 21 interviewed, “was dissatisfied” with Scirotto’s approach to promotions and “most believed that Chief Scirotto made clear his intention to promote based on race, gender or sexual orientation.”“Some believed it was about time changes were made, but stated if promotions were based on things such as race it would even hurt or undermine the people promoted,” the report said.The investigation report accused Scirotto of saying that photos on a conference room wall were “too white” and vowing: “I’m gonna change that.” It also alleged that, in a separate incident, Scirotto passed over a white man with 20 years tenure with the department for a promotion, instead narrowing the field down to two candidates of color, saying: “Which one is blacker?”Lagerbloom defended his decision to fire Scirotto, telling The Associated Press: “There’s everything we