By Adam Wagner
SURF CITY -- In front of a small group of supporters Friday morning, (click here) Mike Halstead refused to apologize for the Facebook post that led to his sudden retirement even as he clarified his message.
Standing near a curb across
the street from Surf City town hall, Halstead addressed parts of the
Facebook post, in which he called the Black Lives Matter movement a
homegrown terrorist organization, urged his officers to take whatever
steps necessary to protect themselves and addressed the perception that
officers are in greater danger now than ever before.
"I
wish to clarify the meaning of 'thug.' It is not a racial term. It is
not defined as a race of people," Halstead said. "Police have been using
the term thug since the '60s and '70s. A thug is a person who steals
what you have earned, kills, maims, rapes and robs."
State
NAACP officials and others questioned the racial undertones of
Halstead's post, and the chief retired abruptly Tuesday during an
emergency meeting of the town's council. Since then, Halstead's
supporters have questioned why town officials acted so quickly and, they
say, harshly toward the 35-year veteran who had been on the Surf City
force for 17 years....
