Kent Assistant Police Chief who displayed a Nazi symbol at work paid $1.52 million to leave department
In a stunning display of the racism and bigotry that remains systemic and tolerated within law enforcement, the City of Kent recently agreed to pay more than $1.52 million dollars to make Assistant Chief Derek Kammerzell go away.
Kammerzell worked for the Kent Police Department for 27 years and rose to the rank of Assistant Chief. But it wasn’t until 2020 that an investigation of him began, after another officer walked by Kammerzell’s door and spotted something disturbing — a Nazi image:
Photograph of Kammerzell’s door, as reproduced in the investigative report
Although Kammerzell admitted he knew the insignia was German, he claimed he did not know it was specifically connected to Nazis or “expressing any positive sentiments about either Nazis or fascist governments.” His lawyer claimed Kammerzell was being offered up as a “sacrificial lamb” to city politics.
However, Kent’s investigation found otherwise, including findings that:
Kammerzell had a photograph of himself with his face shaved to appear as a Hitler mustache.
Kammerzell joked that his grandfather died in the Holocaust after getting drunk and falling off the guard tower.
Kammerzell referred to himself as “Obergruppenfuhrer,” and “joked” that the term should be added to his business cards. He claimed it was German for “Assistant Chief of Investigations.” In fact, that term was one of the highest commissioned SS ranks during the Third Reich, and had more recently been popularized by its use in the television show “The Man in the High Castle.”
The investigation found Kammerzell’s claimed ignorance not plausible — that the affiliation of “Obergruppenfuhrer” and the insignia with the Nazis was “apparent to any viewer of [a Google search of the term], let alone a person with an interest in history—in particular German and military history—such as Assistant Chief Kammerzell.”
For all this, Kammerzell was suspended for two weeks without pay. Two weeks.
This paltry “punishment” sparked outrage in the community and calls for Kammerzell’s resignation. To Kent’s credit, it took those calls seriously, and announced that he “would not be returning to work.” Unfortunately, it appears that because Kammerzell had already been disciplined, “double jeopardy principles” prevent Kent from firing or further punishing him. Meaning he would have to resign. And to incentivize him to do that, Kent had agreed to pay him over $1.52 million.
This result is bittersweet. Kammerzell is gone from the Kent Police Department, as he should be. But it came at a high price because his conduct was not taken seriously enough in the first place, and resulted in a metaphorical “slap on the wrist.”
Kent asserts that it could not have successfully imposed a greater punishment than it did for reasons of “due process.” Perhaps this is true. But whether it is through changes in policies, enforcement, or something else, overall law enforcement needs to do better to root out every one of these “bad apples.” Until it does, as the saying goes, the entire bunch remains spoiled.