Ferndale police officer who allegedly contacted extremist group returns to duty
A Ferndale police officer who was placed on leave in early October for allegedly contacting a far-right extremist group roughly a month after members of the group were involved in the deadly U.S. Capitol insurrection in January has returned to duty.
Michael Scott Langton was placed on paid administrative leave Oct. 4 while the city of Ferndale and police department investigated the claims first reported by Buzzfeed News.
On Feb. 4, someone identifying themself as Scott Langton sent an email to the Oath Keepers’ Washington state email address allegedly looking for information about the group, according to previous reporting in The Bellingham Herald.
“To whom it may concern, I’m a current WA State Police Officer looking for information. I’m not looking to be on some Liberal hit list. Whatcom County WA.,” the email reads.
The emails were obtained by McClatchy after an anonymous hacker gathered data from the Oath Keepers and released it to the transparency organization Distributed Denial of Secrets, which posted much of the data publicly online.
The Oath Keepers are a far-right paramilitary group consisting of former or current members of the U.S. armed forces and law enforcement. The group’s anti-government extremist beliefs and ideology encourage its members to disobey orders that they believe violate the U.S. Constitution.
Oath Keepers’ members traffic in unfounded conspiracy theories linked to white supremacist tenets, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League.
More than a dozen members are facing charges in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Numerous local, state and national government and elected officials have also been linked to being a member of the group, according to ProPublica.
The city became aware Oct. 1 that Langton allegedly sent the inquiring email and placed him on leave “due to the nature of this group,” according to Riley Sweeney, a spokesperson for the city of Ferndale.
“After a thorough investigation, the Ferndale Police Department concluded this investigation as unfounded,” Sweeney said in an emailed statement to The Bellingham Herald.
Langton returned to duty Friday, Oct. 29, “since no violation of policy or law occurred,” Sweeney said.
The city plans to review and update its policies and training related to “subversive or controversial organizations,” Sweeney said. The city will craft new and specific policies relating to joining organizations of a controversial nature, and the policies will be discussed with the city’s Equity Advisory Committee and all city departments, he said.
When asked how the department defined “unfounded,” whether it was determined that Langton had in fact contacted the Oath Keepers, or how many complaints or investigations Langton has been a subject of since his time with Ferndale police, Sweeney declined to comment and directed The Herald to file a public records request.
Langton was hired by the Ferndale Police Department Aug. 30, 2012, according to departmental records provided to The Herald by Sweeney. Prior to that, he was employed by the Blaine Police Department.
Lawsuit history
In the last decade, Langton has been sued twice for allegedly violating people’s civil rights while doing his job, according to federal court records, The Herald previously reported.
Langton was first sued in September 2013 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle for an incident that allegedly occurred in June 2011 while he was a Blaine police officer.
A Whatcom County man alleged that Langton used excessive force while arresting him without probable cause after a dispute between neighbors, court records show.
The case was dismissed and settled out of court in December 2014.
Langton was also sued in Whatcom County Superior Court in August 2020 for allegedly stopping a woman for a traffic offense but with the alleged goal of investigating her for other drug crimes.
The lawsuit claims Langton purposely delayed citing the woman for a traffic offense so a police dog could search the woman’s car, the court records state.
The case was moved out of Whatcom County Superior Court and into federal court in September of 2020.
Records show the case is still pending.
“We hold our officers to the highest standards of personal conduct and will do the work so that our policies reflect that commitment,” Ferndale Mayor Greg Hansen said in a prepared statement Monday, Nov. 1.
