Black Lives Matter Facebook Rant Gets North Carolina Police Chief Ousted, Called Activist Group ‘Terrorists’

The police chief of Surf City, North Carolina, was forced into retirement this week, after the 35-year police veteran posted a long-winded Facebook rant about the Black Lives Matter movement.

On September 3, Police Chief Mike Halstead posted a rant on his personal Facebook page regarding the Black Lives Matter movement that called out everyone from Eric Holder to Jesse Jackson to the president. In his rant, he called Black Lives Matter activists an “American born terrorist group” and said that he has instructed his officers to be vigilant. Halstead added that if they need to “shoot a thug, then do it and answer for it while you are still alive not dead.” Many have taken this to mean he’s told his officers to “shoot first.”

“Open letter from a Police Chief, this Black Lives Matter group is nothing more than an American born terrorist group brought on by the lie of the hands up don’t shoot during the criminal thug Michael Brown incident.

“I have been a Police Officer for 35 years. I do not judge anyone by the color of their skin, but by there actions. A criminal is a criminal whether a police officer or any other profession. I will not state statistics because black lives matter do not care or believe proven statistics.

“When a black thug is killed by the police they are all over it as is Mr. Barack Obama. However when a police officer white, black or any race is murdered for doing his job the media is short with it’s reporting or not at all. When a white person is killed by a black officer you hear nothing.”

According to WNCN, due to Halstead’s Black Lives Matter Facebook rant, says Town Manager Larry Bergman, Surf City Mayor Zander Guy felt forced to call an emergency meeting on Tuesday, during which he announced Halstead’s retirement as police chief. Bergman also said that he spoke with Halstead about his Facebook post before the meeting on Tuesday.

“[A]s public employees we are often held to higher level of scrutiny and that even if it is a personal social media account and despite not associating himself directly to the Town in his posting, that some will draw the connection. He put that information out, that was intended for his friends and colleagues and peers, but it was a public statement and there are people that were offended.”

Halstead eventually deleted his Black Lives Matter rant, reports Raw Story, and in its stead, posted a thank you letter of sorts and explained his sudden retirement from the force.

“I want to thank you all for your support. I was forced to retire or be terminated. I had to beg for a 60 day severance to feed my family. That was the thanks I got from those I thought were family, I was thrown under the bus for expressing my 1st amendment rights and speaking the truth and concerns for law enforcement.”

Do you think the Surf City Mayor was right in forcing Police Chief Mike Halstead into retirement following his Black Lives Matter Facebook rant? Sound off below.

[Image Credit: Andrew Burton/Getty Images News]