A disgraced Las Vegas Metropolitan Police (LVMPD) homicide detective is now leading Oath Keepers USA, a right-wing militia located in Utah, after leaving the force once his colleagues discovered that he had advocated for a "race war" online.
Robert "Bobby" Kinch, who now lives in Duck Creek, Utah, is one of various law enforcement officers right-wing groups such as Oath Keepers have worked towards recruiting since the end of President-elect Donald Trump's first presidential term in 2021.
Kinch, who had been part of the LVMPD's elite repeat offenders program (ROP) since 2009, was discovered for posting racially inflammatory posts to social media by colleagues in 2013, according to Raw Story.
"Let's just get this over! Race war, Civil, Revolution? Bring it! I'm about as fed up as a man (American, Christian, White, Heterosexual) can get!" read one of Kinch's Facebook posts.
Kinch's involvement with the right-wing militia was discovered by a long-time infiltrator of the Pacific north-west patriot movement, who spent several years communicating with groups involved in the movement during which they compiled chat logs, documents and media files as evidence provided to The Guardian and Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDOSecrets).
"These disclosures show once again how police departments aren't taking the threat of extremists in the ranks seriously," said Heidi Beirich, chief strategy officer and co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE).
In 2014, Kinch was suspended after Lt Clint Nichols, an African-American officer supervising him, learned of Kinch's Facebook posts. An internal investigation was launched following Kinch's suspension which revealed an image of him pointing a gun at a commemorative plate with President Barack Obama's image on it.
Nichols later wrote a multiple-page long memo outlining why Kinch should not be allowed to return to work as a law enforcement officer, but Kinch was ultimately allowed to return to duty after simply receiving a written reprimand.
He voluntarily left the LVMPD in 2016.
"Far too many Oath Keeper cops have been found in the ranks of police departments in recent years," said Beirich.
"No one who is associated with a group whose leader is now imprisoned for seditious conspiracy, and whose basic purpose is to disregard government orders they disagree with, should be employed by any police force," she continued.
Originally published by Latin Times.
