Michigan law enforcement is on high alert after the FBI says a plot by extremist groups to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also involved a “plan to target and kill police,” reports the Detroit Free Press. “We’re cautious. We’re absolutely more careful,” said First Lt. Mike Shaw of the Michigan State Police. “This is one of the tactics these anti-government, domestic terrorism groups use. Law enforcement is the face of the government. if you’re mad at the government, you’re mad at the police.” The U.S. Department of Justice charged six men with conspiracy to kidnap Whitmer before Election Day. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel brought charges against seven other men that included supporting terrorism, gang membership, and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
FBI agent Richard Trask said a militia group attempted to get addresses of local police officers. Michigan police officers are on the alert for fake calls for service and militia members targeting police when they’re out of uniform. Current and former law enforcement officers say threats to police officers from both ends of the political spectrum are taken seriously and reconnaissance is being provided to protect public officials, as well as those guarding them, at home and at work. Javed Ali, a former counterterrorism official at the National Security Council during the Trump administration now teaching at the University of Michigan called allegations in the Whitmer kidnapping case “brazen.” Using encrypted communications, weapons training, building explosives and surveilling the governor’s second residence suggests “this was a sophisticated terrorist plot like I would see in my government career on the international side,” Ali said. “This wasn’t a hoax.”