Not all heroes wear capes, but some do get placed on administrative leave. An Indiana police officer is in hot water with her local township after calling out “white male privilege” during a training segment.
Plainfield Capt. Carri Weber was attending a transgender sensitivity training session sponsored by the U.S. Justice Department when things quickly fell into disarray, local station WISH-TV reports. The training—attended by Plainfield police officers, school staff, and employees from Hendricks County’s Prosecutor’s Office—featured statistics discussing the relationship between police and marginalized people, including both people of color and transgender citizens. But when one man questioned the presentation’s statistics, Weber fired back.
“My wife has never been part of police violence, most people that I know have never been accused the police of violence,” the man said, according to WISH-TV. “So I guess I don’t get where that statistic comes from.”
“Because your white male privilege, so you wouldn’t know,” Weber responded from the audience.
The room quickly erupted in disgust, and multiple complaints were sent in against Weber after the meeting. The county of Hendricks is conservative, and according to WISH-TV, attendees called her statements “unwarranted,” claimed she demonstrated “discriminatory job performance,” and criticized her “racial and sexist speech.”
When asked for comment by the Plainfield Police Department, Deputy Town Manager Tony Perona said Weber was placed on administrative leave by the Plainfield Police Board of Commissioners “pending an internal investigation.”
“They are scheduled to hear the results of that investigation and determine a course of action on Thursday, Dec. 7,” Perona told the Daily Dot. “Because this is an ongoing investigation, we have no comment at this time.”
While Plainfield police officers can only receive a five-day suspension from the police department, the Plainfield Board of Police Commissioners can issue far stronger penalizations—and they just might. While serving as Plainfield’s assistant police chief, Weber was suspended in August after driving her police car with alcohol and using the car after drinking. That incident caused Weber to be demoted to a captain, after originally ranking as a major.
