Yeadon Borough Council President calls rumors police chief will be fired because of race “totally absurd"
Yeadon Borough Council President calls rumors police chief will be fire because of race "totally absurd"
Yeadon Borough Council President said rumors that Anthony ‘Chachi’ Paparo would be fired becasue of his race are "totally absurd." Councilmembers are looking into Chief Paparo's alleged overspending before they make a decision about his contract that ended in December.
YEADON, Pa. - Yeadon Borough Police Chief Anthony ‘Chachi’ Paparo is well-liked in the community and his leadership in fighting crime has earned praise from the mayor, but recent rumors have suggested that his job could be on the line.
"If you could clone him that's who people would want - chiefs, mayors, chief executives - would want around the country because he has decreased crime while being under budget," Yeadon Borough Mayor Rohan K. Hepkins said. "You'd be hard-pressed to find that type of performance, during the pandemic, crime went down."
Paparo originally scoffed at the idea that he would be dismissed from a job he's held for three years, then he was met with a stirring accusation.
"Residents were coming to me, various people were coming to me, and say they're going to fire me in January. I was like ‘come on now," Paparo said. "Then the rumors started that they wanted a Black chief in Yeadon."
While Yeadon's new majority of council may want someone new to lead the borough's police department, President Sharon Council-Harris said the accusation of racism is "totally absurd."
"It is unbelievable and outrageous," she told FOX 29. "We don't have to make a decision based on color, we didn't do it the first time, we won't do it the next time."
Council-Harris said that Paparo's future is in question for violating a Fraternal Order of Police contract clause with years of overspending.
"Chief Paparo was responsible for two consecutive years of violating FOP contract clause by providing over hours to part-timers to the tune of $387,000 grievance and fine," Council-Harris said. "So that is really the heart of this issue."
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Yeadon is a 90% Black community, yet hundreds of residents have signed a Change.org petition to keep Chief Paparo on the job.
"This man is well-loved in our community, a lot of his crime-fighting tactics have been emulated in neighboring boroughs," Mayor Hepkins said. "Yes I am a Black mayor and I want to keep this white police chief because he's keeping our community safe."
Councilmembers are looking into Chief Paparo's alleged overspending before they make a decision about his contract that ended in December.
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