Some of those who work forces…

The same court document said: “Ducas and Kinch considered themselves to be politically conservative, while they viewed the junior members of the ROP to be politically liberal.”

A few months into 2014, Lt Clint Nichols, a Black officer who supervised Kinch, learned of the Facebook post and suspended him. A subsequent internal investigation unearthed a photo showing Kinch pointing a handgun at a commemorative plate bearing Barack Obama’s image.

The photo was taken at a party where several police officers were present. The plate had been given to Kinch as a gag gift by a junior ROP officer, and the photo was brought to investigators’ attention by a union official.

The then deputy chief, Gary Schofield, alerted the United States Secret Service when he learned of the photo. This nearly triggered a federal raid that was only halted by an intervention by Sheriff Doug Gillespie, which slowed down federal investigators enough to forestall departmental embarrassment.

Despite a five-page memo from Nichols outlining why Kinch should no longer serve as an officer, the police department allowed him back to work with no more than a written reprimand.

Beirich called this outcome “completely unacceptable. It left an officer on the force who could be a danger to the constituents he was supposed to serve.”

Kinch was subsequently administratively reassigned to desk duty outside the ROP. However, this in turn became the basis of a discrimination lawsuit, in which he claimed that his reassignment was a form of retaliation that had cost him overtime income.

That action was entangled with a 2015 discrimination complaint filed by Kinch’s close colleague Detective John Ducas, for whom Kinch provided supporting testimony in October 2014.

Following this testimony, Kinch claimed he was transferred away from investigating cases involving Black suspects and had his overtime opportunities curtailed.

The department attempted to contain the fallout by quietly adopting a new social media policy in July 2015 that explicitly prohibits discriminatory speech and threatens termination for violations.

The evidence uncovered by the infiltrator indicates that a year later, Kinch had quit the department.

In an email, LVMPD’s public information officer wrote: “Robert Kinch voluntarily retired from LVMPD in July of 2016”

Beirich said of Kinch’s long tenure at the force after his invocation of race war: “Far too many Oath Keeper cops have been found in the ranks of police departments in recent years.”