LANSING (WKZO AM/FM) — Michigan’s top cop is getting five days off without pay, but will still be reporting to work for reposting a message that called protesting NFL players who kneeled during the anthem “rich, entitled, arrogant, ungrateful anti-American degenerates”.
Governor Rick Snyder made the decision to stick to State Police policy and give State Police Director Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue what any other trooper would have gotten for the same policy infraction.
It may also be important to point out that it isn’t necessarily a statement supporting the NFL protests.
State Police Policy states that private social posts are not allowed if they impede performance, impair harmony or negatively affect public perception of the State Police. The repost certainly did that.
A Department spokesperson says Col. Etue had attended the funeral of a Trooper just days before the incident, which added to her emotions at the time.
Governor Snyder says the Colonel has admitted it was a mistake and apologized immediately .“I have full faith in Col. Etue’s leadership as the commander of the Michigan State Police, which I believe to be the best law enforcement body in the nation. The Colonel has served honorably as an enlisted trooper for 30 years, and I hope we can come together as Michiganders to move forward and find common ground, rather than rehash past mistakes.”
Some good may result from it. Col. Etue has had meetings with members of the Legislative Black Caucus who have been pressing for more minority hiring in the department and she has been listening and letting them know of the assistance she could use to find minority recruits,
