GREENBURGH – A Greenburgh police officer has been placed on modified duty and is under investigation after apparently making a racist post on his Facebook page during the height of the unrest in Baltimore, this week, reported The Journal News.
Officer Brad DiCairano, a 27-year-veteran, has been placed on modified duty. Greenburgh Police Chief Christopher McNerney said department members brought DiCairano’s post to his attention on Wednesday. We are unable to share the Facebook post with you because the web page had already been deactivated.
The Journal News obtained a screen shot of the post made Monday night on Officer Brad DiCairano’s page. They reported the post juxtaposed two photographs: one of blacks on a minivan during last year’s protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and the other of baboons swarming a car driven by a white woman.
The caption on the post reads: “what can I say!”
“The police chief and I are very upset at the Facebook post,” Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner tells BW. “It was disgusting. It is totally inappropriate for any law enforcement officer, public servant –or anyone–to make racist comments. The police chief, Town Board and I have zero tolerance for this kind of behavior. The police will be interviewing the officer next week and then will determine the disciplinary actions that will be taken. The police need to interact with the community. There needs to be trust between law enforcement officials and the community.”
Greenburgh Police Chief Christopher McNerney told Lohud the veteran officer is on vacation and would be interviewed on Monday when he returns.
“I am very troubled and disappointed by this,” McNerney told Lohud. “Members of this department are held to the highest standard and we take all allegations of misconduct very seriously. I want to assure the members of the public and the men and women of this department that we will investigate this swiftly and appropriately.”
The chief said that, to his knowledge, other members of the department had neither liked nor shared what DiCairano posted on Facebook as was the case in Pelham Manor and Eastchester in February. Greenburgh is trying to be more proactive and get out in front this unlike their counterparts in the county.
“We have had an open dialogue with the Greenburgh Police Chief and we are pleased that he represents a sincere intent to purge the department of any racist behaviors that undermine the progressive strategies he implementing to improve relationships and promote trust within the African-American community,” shares Lena Anderson, president of the White Plains/ Greenburgh branch of the NAACP with BW. “I look forward to a swift determination of the negative impact this officer’s attitude and behavior have had on the department and the people he has sworn to protect and serve and a strong consequence holding him accountable for the ill will and malice he has expressed on social media.”
“The town recently established a Human Rights Committee to work with the county human rights commission. I am also going to ask this committee to review how we’re handling this case and to provide the police department and town board with an evaluation after the disciplinary actions are taken. We will also reach out to local clergy,” Feiner tells BW
BW feels there are many good police officers in the county and this incident should in no way be attributed to the attitude of all officers. But the Dicairano incident does further expose the presence of racism in the municipality police departments throughout the county, which many police chiefs in the county feel doesn’t exist. This incident follows the Pelham Manor email sandal which also included racism expressed by police and others through social media and email.
“I am very upset about what happened. Greenburgh police and town officials work hard all year round to improve community relations. We have a terrific police summer youth camp targeting lower-income residents and have hired graduates as police officers (the camp is for young teens). We have a police community advisory board. And, community police programs. We try hard to promote trust,” the town supervisor shares with BW.
Stay tuned to BW as we will continue to report on this developing story and updating it.
********updated May 1st at 12:09am to include NAACP WP/GB branch president Lena Anderson comment.***********
