Another noose found; CG investigates - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Another noose found; CG investigates

The Coast Guard is investigating the March 27 discovery of a noose aboard a 110-foot patrol boat Nantucket in South Florida, a top service spokesman said, the latest in a series of such incidents to plague the service.

The crew of the cutter found the noose tied into the end of a line attached to a Stokes Litter — a basket used to lift injured people into helicopters — while the litter was stowed, said Coast Guard spokesman Cmdr. Jeff Carter. He said officials don’t know yet whether the noose represented a threat or if it was just someone practicing knots, but the Coast Guard “takes this very seriously.”

An outside investigator has joined with 7th District commanders to look into the incident, Carter said.

The noose was discovered two weeks after investigators at the Coast Guard Academy said they could not determine who had left a noose in a black cadet’s seabag aboard the school’s sailing barque Eagle in July. They also have not determined who left one in August on the office floor of a white academy instructor who conducted race relations training.

Carter said the incidents have given the Coast Guard a “heightened awareness” that led to the reporting of the noose aboard the patrol cutter. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen visited the academy in October and told the cadets that he wouldn’t stand for “symbols of racism” in the Coast Guard.