Earlier this week, a couple of police officers walked into the West End Trading Company in Sanford, FL while Vital Remains was performing and, to everyone’s surprise the friendly law enforcers actually went to enjoy the show and even requested the band to play their infamous song “Dechristianize” to which frontman Brian Werner agreed only if they helped him on stage to sing “Let the killing begin.”
All of that happened while the officers were on duty so naturally, they were in their uniforms and, you can see where this is going. The video above was sent to Chief Cecil Smith on Tuesday, showing officer Andrew Ricks doing the deed and, of course, considering the current state of public opinion about the police, Smith decided to relief Ricks of his duties. Smith said about the matter:
“An incident of this nature erodes the thin fibers of trust which already exist between the community and the police and it will not be tolerated within the Sanford Police Department,”
The disciplinary actions taken by the Sanford Police Department are definitely too harsh and, while we understand that an officer vocally saying anything pro-killing, even if it’s a song, may not be the smartest thing to do, some context must have been taken into consideration. I guess singing death metal songs are ground for immediate termination while police brutality only gives you a slap in the hand in Sanford.
On behalf of Metal Insider, we salute you, former-officer Andrew Ricks. Stay metal.
[via]
