Chicago Police Chief Fired For ‘Poor Taste’ Black Looters Facebook Post In Orland Hills

The Police Chief from the village of Orland Hills, Illinois, about 35 miles outside of Chicago, has been fired from his job after making a post on Facebook regarding Black looters.

According to NBC 5 Chicago, the Chief, Thomas Scully, had shared a post on his page with an image of Black looters robbing a store, which was captioned “when free housing, free food, free education and free phones just aren’t enough.” He was dismissed from his job after the post, which has since been deleted, was discovered.

“We hold all of our public officials to the highest standards in their personal and professional lives in Orland Hills,” a statement from the village read. “This social media post is in incredibly poor taste. It does not reflect the values of the people of our community, and we will not tolerate such behavior from any of our public officials.”

Until a replacement chief is found, the village’s deputy chief will fill in and take over Scully’s job.

The firing and post came after protests, riots and looting did break out in the Chicago area, as well as around the country, following the deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and others, as well as the shooting of Jacob Blake. While protests have been largely peaceful, others have devolved into chaotic situations that have seen rioting break out, as well as people breaking into businesses and looting products from them.

In August, Downtown Chicago was hit hard by looters, when hundreds damaged dozens if businesses in both that area and the Near North Side section of the city. Looters also destroyed businesses and took products from stores along the Magnificent Mile shopping district, which includes high-end stores like Burberry, Cartier, Nieman Marcus and Tiffany. To try and stem the damage, access to the area was cut off overnight with public transportation suspended and most bridges across the Chicago River raised to prevent people from walking across.

That looting followed a first round in the city which came after Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on Memorial Day.