WALKER, Mich. — It all started with a Facebook post.
"It was the wrong statement at the wrong time," says Walker Mayor Gary Carey. "There's some accountability that needs to be had with it."
A public confrontation between Walker Mayor Gary Carey and Commissioner Carol Glanville.
"I think he owes me an apology and a public retraction," says Glanville. "Because what he's done is a gross negligence of his position."
Commissioner Glanville's post came first on Monday evening, saying in part "safety and law and order have become pretty common buzz words in politics these days".
"They are trying to raise a specter of fear where it doesn't exist," she says.
Glanville says her post was meant to calm tension in the community surrounding those words, noting that crime is low in Walker because of good law enforcement.
"Crime happens, of course, and I don't want to belittle anyone who has been a victim of a violent crime," says Glanville. "But far and wide, Walker is a pretty good place to be."
Not long after Glanville's post, Walker officers were fired at by a murder suspect, which prompted Carey's response Tuesday morning. He says the commissioner's words are "insulting to all law enforcement officers".
"Highly inappropriate, really just insensitive, particularly on Monday night," he says.
Carey, who has children in law enforcement, had recently endorsed Glanville's opponent in the upcoming election on his Facebook page. He says his response would remain the same regardless of who made the comments.
"Absolutely not, that would not change one bit," says Carey. "And if it happened today I'd do the same thing, say the same words, word for word."
But Glanville isn't so sure.
"He's clearly endorsing this candidate, who happens to be a law enforcement officer," says Glanville. "So it's hard to separate all of that."
Carey, however, stands firm.
"I stand by my statements then, I stand by my statements now," he says. "I support our law enforcement without any hesitation ever."
Glanville says she sent a letter to Walker's police chief explaining her post, but does not expect a response so the chief can remain neutral.
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