An Oklahoma police chief found himself in the national spotlight for welcoming a known white supremacist into his department, ignoring concerns about the officer.
As reported by KXII-TV on Wednesday, Oklahoma police chief Christopher Watson hired Bart Alsbrook as a reserve officer.
The news outlet also reported last year that Alsbrook was the Texas coordinator of a skinhead group called Blood and Honor, which is an international coalition of racist skinhead gangs. Alsbrook resigned last August from his interim police chief position with the Colbert Police Department in Oklahoma after admitting to his connection with the white supremacist group.
Chief Watson stated:
“He was involved in some kind of group then, and wanted out and the only way he figured he could get out would be to move far away,” .
Watson also added that he believed Alsbrook deserves another chance after supposedly parting ways with a neo-Nazi group.
Officer Alsbrook was the Texas coordinator of a Skinhead group called Blood & Honor, a group the Southern Poverty Law Center calls an international coalition of racist skinhead gangs
Alsbrook’s name was also linked to 2 websites that sell media & memorabilia aimed at skinheads
— Kevin Heldman (@kevinjayheldman) September 14, 2018
The FBI issued a warning over a decade ago (in 2006) about white nationalists and skinheads infiltrating police departments. Since that report, numerous instances of white supremacists working in law enforcement have surfaced, including a Fruitland Park, Florida deputy police chief and an officer in the department who were outed as members of the Ku Klux Klan in 2014.
