Peter Kinder called for the Director of the Department of Public Safety to be placed on administrative leave
Friday, March 20, 2009 at 5:35 a.m.
Read more: Local, State, Crime, Politics
JEFFERSON CITY -- UPDATE Thurs. March 26, 5:30pm:
Gov. Jay Nixon says the "overzealousness" of a Missouri State Highway Patrol unit is to blame for a report linking various right-wing organizations with the modern militia movement.
The Highway Patrol is no longer distributing the report because of the controversy. The report says many militia members are part of anti-abortion or anti-immigration movements and support Ron Paul or other third-party presidential candidates.
Nixon told reporters today that no one in his administration, nor anyone he hired, reviewed the report before it was distributed to police across the state. The Democratic governor defended police intelligence-gathering efforts.
The Highway Patrol superintendent and state public safety director plan to review all future reports.
Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder has demanded disciplinary action against Nixon's public safety director.
PREVIOUS UPDATE Wed. March 25, 4:53pm:
A report authored by Missouri's Department of Safety has attracted national attention.
It links some conservative groups to the modern militia movement and now the Lieutenant Governor wants the head of the department that authored the report to be suspended.
This morning, Peter Kinder called for the Director of the Department of Public Safety to be placed on administrative leave pending an investigation of the report sent to state law enforcement.
The report portrays militia group members as commonly associated with fundamentalist Christian, anti-abortion, and anti-immigration movements.
It also says members are usually supporters of various third-party presidential candidates.
Kinder says conservative groups have been unfairly singled out and he blames Public Safety Director John Britt.
"Under the guidance of the present director, who, apparently, must think it is Nixon's secret service, the Department of Public Safety has taken on a new and sinister roll of political profiling," Kinder said. "In the nature of making terrorists out of citizens who want nothing more than to voice their opinion, as guaranteed by our constitution and bill of rights.”
Kinder noted the threat report does not include extreme environmental groups or domestic terror groups associated with fundamentalist Muslims.
He also rejected Britt's apology to third-party candidates.
In his apology, Britt had promised those candidates that the department would re-issue the report without their names.
After Kinder's press conference Col. James Keathley, superintendent of the Missouri Highway Patrol released a statement which reads in part:
"The release of a report on militia groups last month by the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) has led me to take a hard look at the manner in which the Missouri State Highway Patrol oversees the dissemination of law enforcement information by the MIAC. My review of the procedures used by the MIAC in the three years since its inception indicates that the mechanism in place for oversight of reports needs improvement.
"Until two weeks ago, the process for release of reports from the MIAC to law enforcement officers around the state required no review by leaders of the Missouri State Highway Patrol or the Department of Public Safety. That process had been unchanged since the MIAC began issuing these reports in June 2007.
"For instance, the militia report was created by a MIAC employee, reviewed by the MIAC director, and sent immediately to law enforcement agencies across Missouri. The militia report was never reviewed by me or by the Director of Public Safety, John Britt, at any point prior to its issuance. Had that report been reviewed by either my office or by leaders of the Department of Public Safety, it would never have been released to law enforcement agencies."
Original Story, Friday March 20:
A new document by The Missouri Information Analysis Center meant to help identify militia members or domestic terrorists has drawn criticism.
A report entitled "The Modern Militia Movement" tells law enforcement agencies to look for red flags-which can include talk of conspiracy theories, possession of subversive literature. Even political bumper stickers for third-party candidates are part of the movement.
Critics say it appears to give officials a green light to stifle political thought.
"So that's going to set up a dangerous situation where a police officer maybe stops a car a sees a bumper sticker and automatically has a prejudgment that this person is going to be dangerous to them," said Libertarian Party Member Tamara Millay.
Gov. Nixon addressed criticism of the report yesterday and defended the agency that produced it.
"Getting information, especially public information, out of our fusion center out to local law enforcement agencies is we do every day and we're going to continue to do,” said Nixon. “Any way they take that information and can analyze what the threat levels are is important to make sure the public stays safe."
State law enforcement officials say the report is being misinterpreted.
Lt. John Hotz of the highway patrol says the report contains publicly available trend data on militias.
