NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – The NYPD has suspended a high-ranking officer amid accusations he was the user behind racist posts on a notorious online message board for cops.
The department placed James F. Kobel on administrative leave on Thursday, law enforcement sources told the New York Post.
In November, a report by the City Council's Oversight and Investigations Division found Kobel posted "racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, and homophobic sentiments" to the message board "The Rant" under the handle "Clouseau."
The 30-year veteran posted hundreds of times to the message board between the summer of 2019 and fall 2020, according to the report.
Kobel was reassigned to the Transit Borough Command for the Bronx and Queens in the wake of the report. He had previously been the commanding officer of the NYPD's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity.
Kobel denied he was the user behind the posts in an interview with the New York Times in November.
"I am unfamiliar with any of these posts," he told the paper. "I'm unfamiliar with 'Clouseau.' I don't post on the Rant."
