Noose Found in L.I. Police Room

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/nyregion/30noose.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

Noose Found in L.I. Police Room


By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 30, 2007

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) — A noose was found dangling in the headquarters of the Police Department here on Friday morning, the police chief said.

The noose was spotted in a Hempstead police locker room, said Chief Joseph Wing, who called in the Nassau County police to help investigate what he called a “horrific and intolerable” episode with racist overtones. Nooses are reviled by many as symbols of lynchings in the South in decades past.

About half of Hempstead’s 107 police officers are members of minority groups, most of them black, said Chief Wing, who is of Asian and European descent. The department recently displayed a banner noting its participation in a countywide effort to recruit minorities and women as police officers.

“It’s astonishing to hear something like this is happening in Nassau County in 2007, especially in Hempstead Village,” said John Nedd, president of the Nassau County Guardian Association, a black police officers’ group.

Corey Pegues, a New York City police captain and the president of the Long Island chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, said members believed the noose may have been directed at a high-ranking Hempstead police official who is black.

[BlooInBloo]

1. I'm shocked (shocked!) for the 9469469485935th time!