Longtime Illinois police chief fired over a meme he posted about looters

A police chief of a suburban village in Illinois was fired after he posted a meme about looters that many found to be controversial.

Thomas Scully worked as the Orland Hills police chief for 15 years, but he was fired on Wednesday over the Facebook post.

"We hold all of our public officials to the highest standards in their personal and professional lives in Orland Hills," the village said in a statement, according to WBBM-TV.

"This social media post is in incredibly poor taste," the statement added. "It does not reflect the values of the people of our community, and we will not tolerate such behavior from any of our public officials."

The statement said that the village's deputy chief would fill in on an interim basis.

What did the meme say?

The meme was a commentary on the recent rioting and looting that resulted from protests over numerous incidents where black people were killed while in police custody or as a result of the actions of police officers.

It read, "Looting. When free housing, free food, free education, and free phones just aren't enough."

Image Source: YouTube screenshot

Scully is not the only public official to lose his position over controversial social media posts.

A staffer for the governor of Maryland was fired in August over posts that justified the shooting at a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that resulted the deaths of two protesters.

One post read, "Don't be a thug if you can't take a slug," with the image of police officer smiling. Another read, "When you see a skateboard wielding Antifa chickens*** get smoked by an AR toting 17-yr-old."

Here's a local news report about the incident:

Orland Hills Police Chief Fired Over Meme Posted On Facebookwww.youtube.com