Saturday, October 10, 2020

Lancaster mayor wanted police chief out because of wife's pro-Trump Facebook post: FOP

Lancasteronline.com tells us what happened:


"Lancaster’s police chief was forced to retire because his wife posted positive comments about President Trump on Facebook, according to the past president of the local Fraternal Order of Police.

"Mayor Danene Sorace announced Jarrad Berkihiser’s retirement on Friday, Oct. 2, during a three-and-a-half-minute news conference at which she did not answer questions and which Berkihiser did not attend. 

"It was retire or be fired, John Fiorill, the FOP’s immediate past president said Friday.

"Fiorill said his account of Berkihiser’s retirement is based on a call Berkihiser made to the FOP lodge seeking labor advice after Sorace demanded his resignation. Since Berkihiser had not reached an agreement with the city at the time of that call, Fiorill said he believes he can share the information with the media.

“The irony of this whole thing is, he didn’t make that statement,” Fiorill said. “He knows better than to get involved in politics. It was his wife. Where does the mayor have the audacity to request his resignation based on what his wife said? He had nothing to do with it.”

"In the since-deleted Sept. 27 Facebook posts, Kristy Berkhiser responded to comments made by a friend who had volunteered at the Trump campaign rally at Harrisburg International Airport the day before.

"The friend said Trump “spoke so much of law enforcement officers and his respect and thankfulness for them! ' ”

This is the Mayor's explanation: A message from Mayor Sorace about Police Chief Jarrad Berkihiser’s Retirement  "I want to thank Chief Berkihiser for his more than two decades of service to our city. He joined the Lancaster City Bureau of Police in May of 1994 as a patrolman and has worked through the ranks of sergeant, lieutenant, patrol captain, and chief. He has served not only our city but our country." . . .

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