A Maryland police officer was suspended Tuesday after a woman snapped a photograph of a hat promoting the Oath Keepers militia group displayed on the rear deck of his police cruiser.
“The officer has been suspended because, flat-out, it’s a violation of our rules and policy to have anything political in your police car,” Anne Arundel County Police Lieutenant Ryan Frashure told local Fox News affiliate WBFF. The department has not released the name of the officer, claiming the incident is a personnel matter that will be investigated internally.
[sc name=”Article Mobile Ad” ]
The Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League classify the Oath Keepers as an extremist branch of the militia movement.
The Oath Keepers website states they are not political and “a non-partisan association of current and formerly serving military, police, and first responders, who pledge to fulfill the oath all military and police take to “defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” That oath, mandated by Article VI of the Constitution itself, is to the Constitution, not to the politicians, and Oath Keepers declare that they will not obey unconstitutional orders, such as orders to disarm the American people, to conduct warrantless searches, or to detain Americans as “enemy combatants” in violation of their ancient right to jury trial.”