County Police Officer Suspended Over 'Oath Keepers Hat'

ANNAPOLIS, MD — A veteran member of the Anne Arundel County Police Department is suspended from duty for reportedly having a cap bearing the logo of the controversial Oath Keepers group in his patrol car. The group says its members are patriotic current or former military or law enforcement personnel upholding the Constitution, while critics call it an antigovernment militia force.

Authorities have not named the nine-year member of the department who was reported by a Crownsville woman when she spotted the ball cap in the back window of a cruiser parked at the Whole Foods store at Annapolis Town Center.

The woman took a cell phone photo of the cap and shared it with department officials, who have suspended the officer’s police powers while the complaint is investigated. The officer has been placed on paid leave/suspension pending the investigation by the Office of Professional Standards in the department.

Police Chief Timothy Altomare told the Capital-Gazette that the cap may violate the department’s rule that its officers not express political views on duty.

“It kind of rocked me to my core because I didn’t expect it in Anne Arundel County,” the unnamed woman told WBAL TV.

Officers should know better, the county police chief said.

"When you see a hat that sends the message, whatever the message is behind the political group, it's unacceptable behavior and prohibited," Altomare told WBAL

Department spokesman Lt. Ryan Frashure said it is policy that no officer may display any political propaganda in their vehicle at any time. The code says the rule exists, “So as not to give the public the impression the department endorses or promotes a particular activity, political candidate, or cause.” Officers are prohibited from displaying bumper stickers, decals, insignia, banners, or placards of any type on or inside their patrol vehicle without the prior written approval of the Chief of Police, policy says.

Frashure said the department can’t comment further because of the pending investigation into the personnel matter.

The Oath Keepers, started by former Sen. Ron Paul volunteer and lawyer Stewart Rhodes, says it is 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.” Members say 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 right to a jury trial, according to its website.

The Southern Poverty Law Center calls the group a fiercely antigovernment, militaristic group. … The Oath Keepers’ list of 10 “Orders We Will Not Obey” is a “compendium of much-feared but entirely imaginary threats from the government — orders, for instance, to force Americans into concentration camps, confiscate their guns, or cooperate with foreign troops in the United States,” the SPLC says.

Armed Oath Keepers appeared outside military recruiting stations in 2015 after gunmen killed five service members in Tennesse; surfaced in Ferguson, Missouri, last year on the anniversary of race riots; and were on the scene of the Cliven Bundy standoff with the federal Bureau of Land Management in Nevada.