澳彩开奖

In the winter of 2009, a young patrolman named James W. Elkins was from the 12-officer Fruitland Park, Florida police department when it was discovered he was a recruiter for and high-ranking member of the .

After Elkins turned in his badge, the police chief at the time, J.M. Isom, , 鈥淚 can guarantee you that none of my police officers who work here are members of the KKK.鈥�

鈥淭hat was completely wrong,鈥� Elkins told Hatewatch today. 鈥淭hey knew I wasn鈥檛 the only one then. They just swept it under the rug. I hope they don鈥檛 get away with doing it again.鈥�

Over the weekend, the Fruitland Park police department鈥檚 deputy chief, David Borst, 49, resigned and another longtime department veteran, Cpl. George Hunnewell, was fired because of their alleged membership in the same group Elkins belonged, the United Northern and Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

The current police chief, Terry Isaacs, told Hatewatch today that both officers 鈥渆mphatically deny鈥� being in the Klan, adding that he was tipped off to their possible membership by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI.

Isaacs said the FBI discovered the officers鈥� alleged Klan involvement in the course of an investigation that he believes stretches across the country and even overseas. He said he did not know the nature of the investigation but was assured that his department was not a target.

He said prosecutors are reviewing the cases that the two officers have pending, and 鈥渋f these cases don鈥檛 stand on their own, my recommendation is that they drop them.鈥� An as-yet-unknown number of cases could be in jeopardy.

Elkins, 33, estimated that at least four members of the department belonged to the Klan when five years ago he was patrolling the streets of Fruitland Park. The city, 48 miles from Orlando in central Florida, is popular with retirees and has a population of 4,000. He added that 鈥減robably 10 out of the 12 fulltime officers鈥� were sympathetic to the Klan.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know how sympathetic that agency was until I started working there,鈥� he said.

Chief Isaacs has been on the job for a little more than three years. He told Hatewatch that he has no idea whether Elkins is correct about how many officers belonged to the Klan or were sympathetic before he arrived.

鈥淚 hope to God and pray that is not true,鈥� he said.

Isaacs said that when he took the job there were 13 full-time officers. Nine of those officers and the secretary are gone. 鈥淚 either ran them off for disciplinary actions or they quit because they didn鈥檛 agree with the direction I wanted to go,鈥� he said.

鈥淪ince I鈥檝e come here, I鈥檝e been very, very hardcore and very strict on bringing this from the old culture into a new professional culture,鈥� Isaacs said. 鈥淚鈥檝e set strict guidelines as far as our ethics go, diversity training. I don鈥檛 allow any joking, any comments. I鈥檓 very strict on that. I was somewhat shocked. I did not expect that in 2014.鈥�

The chief quickly added that until this weekend, none of the officers was fired or resigned because of any possible Klan connection. 鈥淲e have not had a racial complaint since I鈥檝e been here,鈥� he said.

Mark Pitcavage, director of investigative research at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), said that on average there is one incident a year of a law enforcement officer being exposed as a member of an extremist group, including white supremacist groups and the sovereign citizen movement. 鈥淲hich means there are others who never get caught or exposed,鈥� Pitcavage said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a troubling thing whenever anybody like this is caught or exposed because these are people who are supposed to protect everybody鈥檚 rights.鈥�

But the good thing is, Pitcavage added, 鈥渋t doesn鈥檛 happen very much.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 certainly not like the South in the 1950s or 60s,鈥� he said, 鈥渨here you could have sort of widespread associations between law enforcement organizations and groups like the Ku Klux Klan. That鈥檚 not the situation we have now.鈥�

Elkins told Hatewatch he has been an active participant in the white nationalist movement for his entire adult life, including the time he joined the Fruitland Park police department in the summer of 2004 after three years as a prison correctional officer.

鈥淭he entire purpose of that movement,鈥� he said, 鈥渋s to put people within government. I was clean cut. I knew the law, so that鈥檚 what I did. The whole purpose of putting people in places in the government is to assist in making a change. You鈥檙e never going to get someone elected under the ticket of the Knights Party or the American Nazi Party.鈥�

Elkins insisted, however, that he never used his gun or his badge to 鈥渟ubvert the government鈥� or 鈥渇or racial profiling or anything of that nature.鈥�

He said he was a member of the National Aryan Knights, which then merged with the United Northern and Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Before long, he was promoted to Grand Dragon and opened a PO Box as the group tried to recruit new members. 鈥淭he only problem,鈥� Elkins said, 鈥渋s a PO Box is traceable. That鈥檚 how I got found out.鈥�

When authorities traced a recruitment flyer that Elkins and another Klansman had distributed to Elkins鈥� PO Box, police officials began pressuring him to resign, which he did in January of 2009. 聽He felt betrayed by the department and his fellow Klansmen who did not come to his defense.

鈥淢y quote-unquote politically incorrect beliefs were no secret,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 a dirty cop, but I guess by today鈥檚 standards I wasn鈥檛 morally ethical just based on my beliefs.鈥�

Elkins said he gave up his police certification and cannot get a job in law enforcement. Borst and Hunnewell reportedly retained their certification, and it is possible but unlikely that they could continue their police careers elsewhere.

鈥淚 have no sympathy what-so-ever for what they鈥檙e going through, because now they know what I went through,鈥� Elkins said. 鈥淎fter all that stuff came out I hit a real low point in my life.鈥�

He spent three months in New Zealand 鈥渢o rethink his life and priorities.鈥� When he returned no one would hire him. He was out of work for three years. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 hide from Google,鈥� he said.

His marriage broke up, but he finally found a job working in the kitchen of a local business. He got remarried and eventually decided to 鈥渂e a stay-at-home dad鈥� to care for his 5-year-old son.

Through it all, he said, he is still in the movement, although no longer a Klansman.

鈥淚鈥檓 still very much a National Socialist,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 not the 1930鈥檚 anymore. It鈥檚 not the 1950s. It鈥檚 not the 1960s. It鈥檚 a different age. It鈥檚 a different America. Therefore it requires a different form of action.鈥�