Seattle police chief who displayed Nazi insignia on office door to get $1.5M from city

A suburban Seattle metropolis can pay greater than $1.5 million to settle a dispute with a former assistant police chief who was disciplined for posting a Nazi rank insignia on his workplace door and joking concerning the Holocaust.

Former Kent Assistant Police Chief Derek Kammerzell, who had been with the division for practically three a long time, was initially given two weeks of unpaid depart after the 2020 incident. Outraged residents and members of the Jewish group prompted Mayor Dana Ralph to place Kammerzell on paid administrative depart and demand his resignation.

The town’s try and basically self-discipline Kammerzell a second time led to a dispute between his legal professionals and town that appeared headed for litigation. However interim metropolis Chief Administrative Officer Arthur “Pat” Fiztpatrick, who can be town legal professional, stated Friday town had resolved the matter via negotiation, The Seattle Occasions reported.

Ralph, in calling for Kammerzell’s resignation in January, acknowledged that the choice to revisit the self-discipline concern would seemingly “come at a excessive price.” The town stated Friday it will pay him $1,520,000 to resign.

Had town merely fired him, officers stated, he seemingly would have gained again his job via arbitration on account of federal and state labor legal guidelines.

An inside investigation concluded Kammerzell knew the which means of the insignia he positioned above the nameplate on his workplace door in September 2020 — that of an “obergruppenfuhrer” — a excessive official in Hitler’s paramilitary Schutzstaffel, or SS, which was chargeable for the systematic murders of thousands and thousands of Jews and others in Europe throughout World Conflict II.

The insignia was taken down after 4 days when a detective within the investigations bureau, which Kammerzell commanded, filed a grievance.

Kammerzell additionally was overheard joking concerning the Holocaust, in accordance with the inner investigation.

Messages left by the newspaper with Kammerzell’s legal professional and with the Kent Police Officers Affiliation weren’t instantly returned.