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Chad Palmer, a Camden County, Ga., deputy sheriff, is under scrutiny for painting his face black and dressing up as a prisoner for a Halloween party.

A picture shows him in a black-and-white prison uniform. He can be seen with black paint covering his face and arms, wearing a jail uniform.

At the party, he said he was a Camden County inmate, and was picking cotton.

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A spokesman for Sheriff Jim Proctor says the costume was "unacceptable." Proctor is scheduled to discuss the incident during a news conference.

There have been strong reactions from the community, as you would expect.

"Look at it. A white man with a black face, this just isn’t right. It can’t get more racist than that. It can’t," said Shelia Blake. "I think this is disgusting."

 

"For this to be up at our Sheriff’s office. This is not right."

Taken at a private Halloween party, the picture has been shared thousands of times on social media sites. That’s how Pastor Mack Knight saw it.

"To me, it was like a slap in the face," Knight said. "My first reaction was this was totally unethical. Unprofessional and should never have happened."

"Out of all of the characters that this police officer could have chosen, he chose to go as a slave, an inmate, picking cotton," Knight said of the picture.

In light of the picture, some people are calling for Palmer’s arrests to be reviewed, saying this photo shows a clear bias. The Sheriff disagrees.

His boss says that while the picture is terrible and not condoned in the slightest, he does not believe Palmer is a racist or that it impacts his performance.