FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) — Former Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Larry Scirotto stood with the NAACP on Monday as he fights his recent firing.
A report from Attorney Gregg Rossman, who was hired by the City, claims he based promotions on race, gender and sexual orientation.
At a news conference on Monday, the former chief calls that report an “opinion piece.” He said it’s not credible, no one was under oath and the information in it is not true.
“Just for the record, I promoted 15 people to executive level positions in the organization. Of the 15, nine of them were white males, 6 of them were either gender or ethnic minorities. Each of those promotions wasn’t based on protected class or amenable trait. It was based on their qualifications. Everyone one of those candidates were extremely qualified,” Scirotto said.
Attorney Tonja Haddad Coleman is representing the four officers who filed the complaint.
She released a statement saying, “We are pleased that the City investigated the allegations. The former Chief himself voluntarily provided a statement to the outside investigator and confirmed that he did, in fact, make statements that promotions were being based upon the color of people’s skin. Several witnesses came forward and corroborated this, as evidenced by the report. While we applaud diversity, basing a promotion on the color of a person’s skin, regardless of what that color is, is prohibited by federal, state, and local law.”
Scirotto hired an attorney to represent him. He said he loves Fort Lauderdale and the police department and wants his job back.
