An Oklahoma police chief said no one inside his department tolerates racism on any level when defending why he hired an applicant who had ties to a skinhead organization.
Christopher Watson said he accepted Bart Alsbrook’s application and hired him to be a reserve police officer in Achille, Okla. Watson said Alsbrook was brought on because of his wish to break away from the skinhead group he was once part of.
Television station KXII reports Alsbrook was once the coordinator for Blood & Honor, a white supremacist group, which the Southern Poverty Law Center calls a caucus of racist gangs.
“He was involved in some kind of group (in the past), and wanted out,” Watson stated. “And the only way he figured he could get out would be to move far away.”
When Watson was confronted with the information about Alsbrook’s past ties, he alleged skinheads stole his wallet during a concert in the 90s and perpetuated fraud.
“In the two years that I have known him, he has done nothing but contribute,” Watson said.
In August 2017, Allsbrookinterim police chief of Colbert, a nearby town, but resigned after reports of his skinhead past came to the surface.
Watson says despite hiring Alsbrook his department doesn’t tolerate ignorance.
“None. None, because that is an ignorant way of thinking,” said Watson. “So there would be no tolerance of that.”
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