November 28, 2015
Contributed Art/WTAE Pittsburgh
Thomas Burke resigned from the newly created Farrell city police department after an e-mail containing a racially insensitive remark surfaced in the community.
Mere days before taking the helm as police chief of Farrell, a western Pennsylvania town located about 65 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, Thomas Burke has submitted his resignation over the discovery of a racial slur he wrote in an email unrelated to his law enforcement job.
On Monday, Burke publicly apologized for the remark he made in an April email to support a literacy fundraiser in the nearby city of Sharon, where he previously served as police chief until 2007, ABC News reports.
Referring to the book drive, Burke wrote from a private work account that, "Even a $1.00 will be greatly appreciated. Them Sharon n***** gotta learn how to read."
The e-mail was accidentally forwarded to 40 co-workers and members of the local school system, including a parent-teacher organization sponsoring the fundraiser for an elementary school in Sharon.
Burke, sworn in Nov. 17 to lead a Farrell police department set to replace the city's regional services, was scheduled to begin duty Tuesday in order have the office prepared for the start of the new year. On Wednesday, Farrell Mayor Olive McKeithan told The Sharon Herald that Burke agreed to accept her request for his resignation, a change of heart from her previous support of Burke.
Members of the community in Farrell, whose population of 5,000 is approximately half African-American, expressed concerns that the tone of Burke's comment could infect the police department with racial bias, according to WTAE in Pittsburgh.
"There's enough hate and discontent in the world," Burke said following a community forum held to address the e-mail. "We don't need that here in Farrell, we just don't need it." When pressed about the contradicting viewpoint in his e-mail, Burke told media that it was "a long time ago" and he didn't remember writing it. "It was a joke. It was bad taste," he said.
In his news conference Monday, Burke said he never intended to offend anyone and asked for the community's forgiveness.
Left with a vacancy ahead of the launch of the new police department January 1, Farrell will likely turn to a recently hired police officer to serve as interim police chief until a thorough search for a suitable replacement has been completed.
