Chicago police lieutenant retires before COPA finds racist, sexist social media posts against policy
A Chicago police lieutenant retired earlier this month before the Civilian Office of Police Accountability released findings that he made several derogatory social media posts in 2020 that were against department policy and recommended that he be fired.
Lt. John Cannon retired Oct. 15 after working at the Chicago Police Department for 24 years; he most recently worked in the alternate response section, according to the Police Department. COPA’s final summary report of its investigation into Cannon was publicly released Wednesday.
COPA concluded that Cannon had violated multiple department rules by repeatedly posting racist, sexist, homophobic, misogynistic and xenophobic memes and comments on Facebook, and the agency concluded that he was unfit to serve the department and should be fired.
“Through his use of social media, Lt. Cannon has demonstrated that he is unable to treat all the citizens of Chicago with fairness and equity. His misconduct is particularly egregious for a high-ranking supervisor with 23 years on the force,” according to the report.
Cannon’s attorney, Dan Herbert, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The department declined to comment on if Superintendent David Brown agreed or disagreed with COPA’s findings because Cannon is no longer a member of the department, a police spokesperson said.
Max Caproni, executive director of the Chicago Police Board, said there were no charges against Cannon filed with the board.
COPA first learned of the posts after someone made a complaint about offensive Facebook posts made on an account under the name “Samuel Hipster,” according to the report. The complainant said he learned that the account was run by Cannon.
In Cannon’s interview with COPA, Cannon said he is a law student at John Marshall Law School, where he said he has been the victim of harassment and discrimination by multiple deans and a visiting lecturer, the report said. He admitted that the “Samuel Hipster” account belonged to him and he used the name to distance himself from the department and to remain anonymous.
“He also intended for the account to be jestful and humorous. Lt. Cannon alleged that a visiting professor ‘hacked’ his account, stole his content, and misconstrued the meaning of his posts in reposting them to other platforms,” according to the report.
Cannon told COPA that the page was intended to be private except to friends and family, the report said.
CPD’s policy is that department members, when using social media, are prohibited from posting communications that can discredit or reflect poorly on the department and content “that is disparaging to a person or group based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other protected class.”
COPA found that Cannon’s posts discredited the department due to their lack of professionalism and undermined the department’s goals of building community support, the report said. It also found that his posts included content that “is disparaging to a variety of protected classes,” despite Cannon’s repeated denials that his posts were offensive.
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While the account was under the name “Samuel Hipster,” COPA found that the URL and profile link for the account listed his name, and Cannon posted a selfie of himself to the account, the report said.
COPA determined that most of the 19 allegations against Cannon were sustained, the report said. Some of the posts he shared included a meme depicting former President Barack Obama wearing a turban with the words, “Obama is ISIS.”
Another post Cannon shared included the comment, “Welcome to peasantry, equal not good enough huh” and a picture with the words, “White privilege is a myth perpetuated by those who hate white people,” the report said.
Another post shared by Cannon included side-by-side images of a young man in a red “MAGA” hat and a young person in drag with the text “LIBERAL LOGIC: Kid in MAGA hat, offensive. Kid in drag, BRAVE!”
While employed at CPD, Cannon received several awards including a 2004 Crime Reduction Ribbon, a 2009 Crime Reduction Award, a 2019 Crime Reduction Award, five complimentary letters, 10 department commendations, 152 honorable mentions, one Joint Operations Award, a Military Service Award, a NATO Summit Service Award, a Police Officer of the Month Award and a 2008 Presidential Election Deployment Award, according to the report. Cannon had no sustained disciplinary history in the past five years.
