Confederate_Rebel_Flag

The rectangular battle flag of the Army of Tennessee, Confederate States of America.

(Public domain photo)

TRAVERSE CITY, MI -- A Traverse City police officer who was suspended this weekend after showing up at an anti-Trump rally with a Confederate flag has exhibited similar behavior in the past, according to Police Chief Jeffrey O'Brien.

O'Brien said Michael Peters, an 18-year veteran with the force, previously flew the flag from his vehicle while it was parked in the department parking lot, but ceased when the department asked him to stop.

"He's been talked to about that," the chief said during a press conference held Monday, Nov. 14.

The press conference marked the first day of an internal investigation into Peters' actions at a Friday, Nov. 11, "Love Trumps Hate" rally at Traverse City's Open Space.

Protesters confronted Peters after he allegedly revved the engine of his pickup truck, with Confederate and American flags flying from poles mounted in its bed, while driving past a black family at the rally.

Marshall Collins Jr. said he confronted Peters and explained how the flag made him feel unwelcome and hated, which the officer allegedly shrugged off.

"I said, 'Do you know what this represents?'" Collins earlier told The Grand Rapids Press and MLive. "'Do you understand the hatred?'"

Watch the full press conference with the police chief, City Manager Martin Colburn and Mayor Jim Carruthers, as posted on Facebook by UpNorthLive:

Briefing following Traverse City Police officer suspended after flag incident Posted by UpNorthLive on Monday, November 14, 2016

Colburn said "numerous complaints" about Peters were received by city officials over the weekend and two city officers, led by Sgt. Keith Gillis, began investigating the incident.

O'Brien declined to give many details about the ongoing internal investigation, or about Peters' personnel file, but criticized the veteran officer's actions on Friday.

"This is reprehensible," he said. "This is not even within our concept of what we stand for as police officers."

Other city officials, including Colburn and Carruthers, also voiced their disappointment with Peters.

"This is not what we expect from our city employees," Carruthers said. "It's not something we value. It's not something we accept. This isn't what the city believes in, in my opinion and from what we're hearing from the staff and the residents."

Colburn added that concerns have been voiced about a city officer flying the Confederate flag on Veterans Day.

"We understand what the flag flown represents, whether it stands for racial hate, sedition," he said. "We are greatly concerned on the ramifications on how that's interpreted."

Others argue that Peters' First Amendment rights should protect him from reprisal for the statement he made by flying the flag at the event Friday.

One of those is Dan Kuhn from the Police Officers Association of Michigan, the union that represents Traverse City's police officers.

"The fact that he's a Traverse City police officer does not take away the rights he has an American citizen," Kuhn said. "Just as the people in the park there who are protesting have those rights."

Peters was suspended with pay while the department investigates the incident, according to O'Brien.

The main goal of the investigation, the chief said, will be to determine if Peters violated any internal rules, particularly sections of the police department's "code of conduct."

The investigating officers, he said, will interview witnesses and potential victims before the department takes any further action.

"He has a right to due process," O'Brien said. "We're going to make sure that is carried through."

That process will include access to a defense provided by a union attorney, according to Kuhn.

"He is a member of his legal defense plan, which will provide him with an attorney," he said. "We're going to defend him if the department overreacts."

The police chief said he spoke with Peters prior to the press conference Monday morning.

"I think that Officer Peters understands the seriousness of what he's done," O'Brien said.

Despite the freedom of speech and expression owed all Americans under the First Amendment, the chief said he believes police officers need to tread more carefully than most citizens.

"I personally believe that a police officer lives in a glass house," O'Brien said.

Colburn called the incident "concerning," saying he believes the flag symbolizes ideas that conflict with the oaths taken by public officials to uphold the U.S. Constitution.

"We as public employees are held to a higher standard," he said.

In photographs accompanying a Traverse City Record-Eagle story about the incident, Peters is pictured standing next to his truck and drinking a beer before leaving the rally.

O'Brien said there is no law against drinking alcohol within the city's Open Space, a public gathering area located along Grandview Parkway (U.S. 31) on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay.

"It is not illegal to drink in the Open Space," he said.

O'Brien told reporters at Monday's press conference that he couldn't give any further details about the incident.

"I can't talk about any part of the investigation because I don't have the facts," he said.

The three city officials are all asking residents to be patient while the department conducts its investigation.