[Stormieweather]

I've been thinking about this and doing some research into the history of the KKK. Actually, I think MaggieL is correct. Legally, you cannot fire a police officer simply based on his membership in a questionable group, ala the KKK. They could have refused to hire him if he admitted to it on his initial application as most police employment applications ask if the applicant is a member of any racist group (in addition to any subversive group). However, firing based simply on his membership isn't really legal. In all actuality, there are probably quite a few police officers in the KKK (based on information I ran across detailing firings as a result of harrassment and racist mistreatment of fellow employees and/or citizens).

That said, I know of very few people who don't act on their strongly held beliefs. Someone who believes that Catholics, Asians, Jews, blacks and women are sub-human will be unable to hide that fact for long. Once an officer's superiors are aware of his affiliation with a racist hate group, they can monitor his activities closely and doubtless gather adequate grounds with which to fire him.

I do believe that any officer who is sworn to serve and protect (each and every citizen of our country) and who has also sworn allegiance to a group historically dedicated to denigrating non-white citizens will find himself in a conflict he will be unable to resolve. The KKK is not known for being all talk and no action.

Unfortunately, knowing he won't hold this position of power indefinately doesn't help the victims of his racism in the meantime.

Oh!! Shouldn't wife beaters be barred from re-marrying too? /nod

Stormie