Police chief forced to retire after calling Black Lives Matter a terrorist group
Surf City, N.C. officials approved the retirement of Police Chief Mike Halstead Tuesday.聽Halstead called Black Lives Matter "nothing more than an American born terrorist group."
Surf City, N.C. officials approved the retirement of Police Chief Mike Halstead Tuesday.聽Halstead called Black Lives Matter "nothing more than an American born terrorist group."
A North Carolina town has approved the retirement of the police chief after he referred to the Black Lives Matter movement as a terrorist group in a Facebook post.
Local news outlets report that the town council in Surf City approved the retirement of Police Chief Mike Halstead during an emergency meeting Tuesday.
Halstead is white and had planned to retire this year. The town approved the retirement following a Sept. 3 Facebook post by Halstead. He had been police chief since 1999.聽
In the 662-word post, he called Black Lives Matter "nothing more than an American born terrorist group" and said the government needs to step up and put a stop to it. He said the movement glorifies criminals and vilifies members of law enforcement.
Halstead said neither the government nor blacks would tolerate a white supremacist group marching through the streets calling for the murders of public servants.
Halstead removed the post, which was on his personal account, this week.
On his Facebook wall, Halstead posted this message early Wednesday:
Halsteads comments come at a time when police forces in the US are under scrutiny, and some say under attack.聽
"We've heard black lives matter; all lives matter. Well cops' lives matter too,"聽Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman聽said at a news conference following Shannon J. Miles聽arrest in the fatal shooting last month of聽Texas Deputy Darren Goforth.
Harris County Sheriff's statement has resonated with supporters of law enforcement, which has over the last year been the focus of calls for sweeping reform in the face of high-profile, violent confrontations between officers and unarmed black men and women 鈥� and the equally high-profile police deaths that followed. It has also, in a way, promoted mutual respect and understanding between police and the black community .
Thousands of people gathered in Houston Saturday in a "Police Lives Matter" march.聽
But there's as many views on the current tensions as there are police, 海角大神 reports.聽
And as far as a 鈥渨ar on cops鈥� 鈥� a phrase used recently by Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke 鈥� Atlanta beat cop Barricia McCormick, at least, doesn鈥檛 see it.