The Green Bay Police Department has responded to public backlash regarding one of their new recruit’s tattoos.
The Department took to social media yesterday (January 7th) to share a photo of five new recruits who have begun their police academy journey.
One of the recruits, identified as Ross Walden, can be seen in the image with a tattoo confirmed by GBPD as a Three Percenters tattoo.
In their statement, the department said, “The ‘Three Percenter’ tattoo was intended to symbolize resistance to tyranny, not affiliation with any extremist ideology or unlawful organization.”
However, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) describes the Three Percenters as “anti-government extremists who are part of the militia movement,” while adding that the Three Percenters “have a track record of criminal activity ranging from weapons violations to terrorist plots and attacks.”
While at first the Three Percenters were strongly anti-government, the ADL also said, “Because many adherents to the militia movement strongly support President Trump, in recent years, Three Percenters have not been as active in opposing the federal government, directing their ire at other perceived foes, including leftists/antifa, Muslims, and immigrants.”
A point that many in the Green Bay community have raised concerns about following the release of the image showing Walden’s Three Percenters tattoo.
The group also carries a presence north of the border, with the Canadian federal government listing the Three Percenters as a terrorist organization since 2021.
This terrorist classification in Canada is for numerous reasons, which they explained is due to Three Percenters being “linked to bomb plots targeting United States federal government buildings and Muslim communities. In November 2015, a Three Percenter was arrested and eventually convicted of shooting and wounding five men at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Most notably, in 2020, two of the group’s leaders directed a plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan that involved acquiring and detonating explosives to divert police attention from the kidnapping, as well as public executions of public officials by hanging them on live television.”
The Green Bay PD’s full statement on Walden, his Three Percenters tattoo, and the public’s response can be found by visiting the department’s Facebook page.
