Thomas Burke, Police Chief Of Pennsylvania Town, Resigns For Using Racial Slur
Thomas Burke, the police chief of the small Pennsylvania town of Farrell, has resigned following his use of a racial slur to describe blacks, the Sharon Herald is reporting.
PA Police Chief Resigns Over Email Containing N-Word Leaks: Tom Burke, the police chief for Farrell, PA resign… https://t.co/xmMHkfbRuh
— Melonie Beilman (@Melonie_Beilman) November 29, 2015
Back on November 17, Burke was sworn is as the police chief of the newly-created police department in Farrell, about 65 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. The town of about 5,000 had been patrolled by a regional police, which is set to disband. Burke was hired to get the new police department up and running by the start of the new year, after the regional police force has been disbanded.
Burke had been the police chief of the nearby town of Sharon, before retiring in 2007. He then took a job working security at a nearby mill before being hired as the police chief of Farrell. However, shortly after Burke was hired, an email from 2015 surfaced — an email which would ultimately cause his undoing as police chief. In the email, obtained by WTAE (Pittsburgh), Burke, who at the time was working at a private company, forwarded a plea for donations to a fundraiser to raise money for books for disadvantaged children of Farrell and Sharon (Burke’s son was also participating in that fundraiser). The Spreadit provided a screenshot of the email (which you can see here). In it, a sender, whose name has been redacted, sent Burke a request for money.
“I am so excited about a reading fundraiser I am participating in for Case Avenue Elementary PTO. I really need all of my family and friends to support me. I will be reading every day for ten days. Will you please click the link below so I can tell you all about it? Thank you for your support.”
Burke — apparently willing to raise money for the fundraiser — then added his own remarks to the email.
“Good morning. Please click and review. Even a $1.00 will be greatly appreciated. Them Sharon n*****s gotta learn how to read.”
Burke then forwarded the email to about 40 people, including some who worked in the school system. It is not clear, as of this writing, who provided the damning email to WTAE. Burke’s email generated heated controversy in Farrell, besides making national headlines. Initially, Farrell mayor Olive McKeithan, who is herself African American, stood behind her police chief.
The mayor’s response after we sent her the email. “I stand behind Mr.Burke as Police Chief…”#WTAE pic.twitter.com/VHMycUFD08
— Bofta Yimam (@BYimam_WTAE) November 24, 2015
Others were less forgiving. Longtime Farrell resident Bishop Martha J. Sanders said that hiring a police chief who uses the N-word would set a bad precedent, particularly in a town whose population is almost 50 percent black.
“I’m so concerned when we would consider putting someone in office who not only said that word, but they wrote it in emails and sent it. That’s a forever thing. There are many young blacks in Farrell who are already unruly (and) disenfranchised.”
Burke himself apologized for the email.
“My intention was never to offend anybody. I ask the community’s forgiveness.”
However, Burke’s apology was not enough, and ultimately McKeithan — who admitted that she received “a lot of nasty phone calls from people in town and out of town” over the email — changed her mind about hiring Burke. She asked for his resignation last week, and Burke complied.
Burke’s resignation leaves the town of Farrell without a police chief, and city officials don’t believe they have enough time to hire another by the January 1 deadline. Instead, one of the two police officers the town has already hired will likely serve as interim police chief until a permanent chief can be hired.
[Image via Shutterstock/Miltarist]
