Public Safety Commissioner Michael Schirling suspends state trooper Lucas Hall for off-duty social media post

Public Safety Commissioner Michael Schirling has issued a statement regarding his decision to suspend Sgt. Lucas Hall of the Vermont State Police, Shaftsbury barracks, for reportedly expressing support of the Jan. 6 Trump rally in Washington, D.C., in a personal social media post. The commissioner’s statement reads as follows:

This morning the Vermont State Police received a report of personal, off duty, social media posts by Lucas Hall of the Shaftsbury barracks. These posts appear to support the criminal insurgency that occurred yesterday at the U.S. Capitol and to advocate for such insurgency to continue.  While we recognize the rights of all people including sworn law enforcement officers to express their views, advocating for the overthrow of the constitutionally defined democratic election process by force or violence violates our oath of office to uphold the Constitution.

After being initially briefed by Colonel Birmingham, I immediately opened an internal investigation and suspended Hall without pay while we swiftly explored what further lawful personnel actions were immediately available. We anticipate that our internal investigation will be completed within a few days and will update the public as soon as possible.

These actions, if true, have caused pain and anguish on the part of Vermonters during an already indescribably stressful time in our national history and for that we are saddened and sorry.

It is important to state in the strongest terms that these posts are in no way reflective of the beliefs and values of the Vermont State Police or its dedicated troopers and staff, who work each and every day to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law.

Image courtesy of Vermont State Police

28 thoughts on “Public Safety Commissioner Michael Schirling suspends state trooper Lucas Hall for off-duty social media post

  1. My first comment did not ‘take’ – so I’m trying again:

    The Boys in Blue and Green as well as our Sheriffs, need to stand with the People of Vermont against this tyranny.
    If not them, who?
    If not now, when?

    Wouldn’t that be all Green Mountain Boy and stuff…

  2. I’d love to see the boys in blue and green in Vermont stand unequivocally with the People, let alone the Sheriffs.
    Its past time – they need to stop being puppets of the CCP oligarch coup.
    Wouldn’t that be all Green Mountain Boys.

  3. This suspension is diabolical, step in line folks or out you go…………the left wing mantra in the form of fascism is alive in Vermont.

  4. Of course he suspended without pay. If he posted in support of the BLM and Antifa rioting it would be ignored or at the least suspended with pay in a token response. The progressive/socialists have taken over Vermont and there’s no going back now.

  5. If this happened in other states like Texas or Florida, we’d be suspending Schirling, T.J. Donovan, and the governor for malicious prosecution, and awarding damages to the trooper. Please halt this nonsense and let the trooper exercise his rights while off duty. The way Vermont is heading, we’ll be fining people for farting. (However, I think that is already allowed in our Vermont State House, LOL)

  6. Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.

    “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

  7. Shame on Trooper Lucas Hall as he plagiarized, for tens of millions of us, said the same thing in 2016 and Nov 2020!

  8. And what did this guy actually say?

    Are we too scared of being dis-identified that we can’t say/write the ‘terrible words”

    • does it matter what he said? If he did nothing wrong???

      Meanwhile they do take our rights away….apparently the 1st amendment for this guy too…

    • This what VT Digger reported Trooper Lucas Hall said.

      “Cheers to the great Patriots in Washington DC. The time has come… Let’s gooooo!!!” ….. “it might be war… We are beginning to see good, law-abiding citizens stand against a corrupted government.”

      • These are only scary to chicken puppets who are losing the narrative, and are trying to shut the barn door after the cows are out of the barn.
        Chickens who can’t stand opposition, questions, or being held to a higher standard than the one our gov’t sets: like speaking one’s truth without fear of reprisal.
        We’ve been under assault for nearly 2 years now…freedom of expression under these circumstances is NECESSARY if only to let off the steam so the violence doesn’t occur.
        Oligarchs and technofascists want to control words – spells – and only THEY can decide what those words are.
        THINK about that people.
        China does this.
        Welcome to Chinarmont.

  9. Michael Schirling, You spout off about defending the Constitution and the rule of law by denying the freedom of speech given to us in the 1st amendment to a person using his freedom of speech in an off duty social post. When will we see you punish yourself for violating this person’s 1st amendment rights?
    You must be vying for a job with facebook and twitter as one of their censors. Suckup to the democratic party or be censored and blocked. Good job comrade, I am sure you will be rewarded by the left socialist.

    • You are correct, Brad, Comrade Shirling needs more money so he is sucking on the teat of the left………..

  10. I wonder if this holier-than-thou official ever criticized BLM and Antifa insurgencies! My, my, how the radicals and boot lickers love to pontificate in highly exaggerated tones, just to gain favor with the elitists who hold their leashes!

  11. Re: “Comrade, Since 1968.”

    Yes, that’s precisely where we are.

    And now, those of us (you know, we conspiracy theorists) who recognize the duplicitous sophistry inherent in our elected and appointed officials, the media, and political organizers, must be very careful about what we say, in public and, more importantly, what we say in private. Yes, it may be hard to believe America has come to this. But it’s happened before.

    I watched the same thing take place during the protests of the late 60s. I was in DC when MLK was assassinated and half the downtown was burned. I watched on TV as National Guard tanks rumbled down the streets of Detroit. I was a in an Ohio college when the Kent State shootings occurred. I watched the Democrat political machine’s Chicago police, as ‘the whole world was watching’, beat the living daylights out of people at the 1968 DNC convention.

    Make no mistake. The recent DC riot was yet another orchestrated setup by the never-Trump crowd, and well-meaning but naive and ignorant patriots, including President Trump and other Republican politicians, got sucked into it. Trump, of all people, should have known better. They all should have known better.

    We, now, must know better. Be careful. Sometimes ‘tis better to be silent and thought the fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt. The clock has, indeed, struck thirteen.

  12. Does any one see the irony of someone being fired because they said something that violates the constitution?

    Meanwhile we elected a Lt Governor that didn’t meet the very easy qualifications required by the constitution? Meanwhile our Governor and legislature trample, ignore and desicrate our laws on a regular basis?

    This is a tactic used by despots and dictators, hang people publically so everyone is afraid to speak up. It’s well used since the Romans crucified people, hung them on a cross for people to see while driving to work.

    The viewing always so pretty here in the Green Mountains. Hope you enjoy seeing public officials hanging for all to see, last month was a school principle, who will be next month? A health care worker who speaks up?

  13. Comrades, this is why I decided that “DEFUND THE POLICE” may actually be a good idea after all. When socialist and communists hold political power the police are always turned into government thugs to enforce the dictates of the rulers. You can see the proof of this in every socialist state every day in the news. The very same police that people admired and appreciated and stood up for want that pay check and pension so they will the bidding of the rulers. Not many have the courage an moral principles to do otherwise. My guess would be colonel Birmingham will be rewarded with general Birmingham in the near future. Then there is the military, yeah! This is however what Vermonter’s voted for. Enjoy.

  14. Since when do you get to censor a person’s personal thoughts or beliefs? You have no right to punish a person just because you disagree with them, what a person says or does on their own time is none of your business. What are you trying to do, suck up to our rino governor and his team of democrats in Montpelier?

  15. Most of the comments made by the Vermont Legislature offend me. Can we suspend them all without pay? The actions of the Public Safety Commissioner are such BS.

  16. Is he talking about the auntyfa infiltraitors? Does he have proof of who they were, and who they were affiliated with? I bet they were provocateurs.

  17. Not right! Not the way it should be, but in VT we are the sympathetic ear for the left!
    And it starts at the top here!

  18. Wow, being a Trump supporter is now a suspendable offense? The deep state has now infiltrated Vermont. What’s next? Wearing a MAGA hat will be a hate crime?

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