A female police captain in Indiana has been placed on leave after telling a fellow officer he benefitted from “white male privilege.”
Capt. Carri Weber of the Plainfield Police Department was placed on administrative leave on Nov. 16 after a complaint was filed about the Nov. 1 incident, according to RTV6, the Indy Channel.
Weber made the comment at a training session officers were attending to learn about issues relating to transgender people. It was captured on video and provided to Channel 6.
As representatives from the Justice Department led the session, a statistic about transgender people being three times more likely to experience police violence was mentioned.
A 28-year veteran of the department, who was not identified, questioned the statistic, saying that most of the people he knows have never “accused the police of violence.”
“Most of the people that I know have never … accused the police of violence,” he said. “So I guess I don’t get where that statistic comes from.”
In response, Weber, who was also attending the session, said, “Because of your white male privilege, so you wouldn’t know,” prompting the man and others in the room to respond.
“Chief, you gonna let her get away with that?” the officer asked. “Seriously? I’m asking a legitimate question here, and I’m getting [unintelligible] white privilege? Are you serious? I find that extremely offensive.”
{mosads}The officer, who was not named in documents, filed a complaint against Weber on Nov. 10, writing that he was “racially and sexistly slurred.”
“I was racially and sexistly slurred by Captain Carri Weber while I was asking a question of the instructor in training,” the officer wrote. “I am now firmly aware of the discriminatory belief she just verbally communicated. … There is no place in the Plainfield Police administration or supervision for someone who holds and espouses her discriminatory views.”
The Plainfield Board of Commissioners will vote Thursday on Weber’s future with the department, according to Channel 6.
Weber was reportedly suspended for two weeks in the past for violating the department’s drug and alcohol policies.