In the small Oregon town of Prineville, the line between law enforcement and armed far-right militia has blurred beyond recognition. And the people paying the price are the ones who dared to speak up.

A Note on Sources

This article draws on reporting from OPB, the Rural Organizing Project, and court documents. One source frequently cited on far-right groups in Oregon is the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). While the ADL's research on legitimate white nationalist and antisemitic organizations is documented, it is worth noting that the ADL has its own political agenda — one that consistently conflates anti-Zionism with antisemitism and attempts to equate Palestine solidarity activism with the very hate groups it claims to oppose. There is an ocean of difference between armed white supremacist militias and people standing against genocide. Where the ADL's data points to verifiable facts about militia organizing, we cite those facts. Where their framing serves a broader agenda of suppressing criticism of Israeli apartheid, we reject it.

Prineville police Facebook post for Police Week celebrating white officers only, or maybe they only have white officers. If you picked the later you would be correct, if you picked the former, you would probably also be correct.

The Prineville Blueprint: Police, Militias, and the GOP

Prineville, Oregon (pop. ~10,000) sits in Crook County, where fewer than 1% of residents are Black. It's also a documented hotbed for far-right Patriot movement activity — one of the most concentrated in the state.

According to the Rural Organizing Project's landmark "Up In Arms" report, the Prineville-Redmond corridor revolves around three intertwined organizations:

• Central Oregon Constitutional Guard (COCG) — a militia-style group and member of the Pacific Patriots Network, connected to the 2016 Malheur Wildlife Refuge occupation
• Central Oregon Patriots (COP) — a Tea Party-origin group that has overlapped directly with the Crook County Republican Party
• Local Oath Keepers chapter — with documented cross-membership between all three groups

The connections run deep. Ken Taylor, former chair of the Central Oregon Patriots, simultaneously served as the Crook County Republican Party chair, co-coordinator of the Central Oregon Oath Keepers, and treasurer of the Oregon Republican Party. He filmed Ammon Bundy's meetings ahead of the Malheur occupation. The organizational boundaries between "political party," "militia," and "civic organization" didn't exist — because they were the same people.

This isn't infiltration. This is the power structure itself.

Armed far-right militia members in tactical gear and camouflage at an Oregon protest

When the Police Chief Calls a Black Woman a Liar

In 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, 28-year-old Josie Stanfield — who grew up in Prineville and endured racist harassment throughout school — organized the town's first Black Lives Matter protest.

She asked to meet with Police Chief Dale Cummins to discuss issues of race and policing. The department's response was revealing: she was repeatedly told that Black residents made up only 0.8% of the county, and asked why they were "making noise."

Stanfield posted a video about the meeting on Facebook. The next day, Chief Cummins responded on the official Prineville Police Department Facebook page — calling Stanfield a liar.

"I promise I will run you over in my lifted chevy," read one threatening message she received. "Don't like it here, go back to Africa."

When Stanfield asked the police to pursue harassment charges against the men making threats, Captain Larry Seymour replied through the department's Facebook account that he'd spoken with one of the harassers, who "was apologetic," and that he "didn't see that being an issue further."

The chief's video calling her a liar was viewed 39,000 times in a town of 10,000. OPB asked Chief Cummins if he had ever before used social media to publicly call out a critic by name. "I have never had to," he replied.

When asked if Black lives matter, Cummins said: "It is almost a little offensive when I hear that."

It took ten weeks, a threatened lawsuit, and national media coverage before the video was quietly removed. No apology was ever issued to Stanfield.

Armed Militia at the Protests — With Police Consent

During the weekly Prineville protests, counter-protesters waved Confederate flags, Trump 2020 banners, and "Go home commies" signs across the street from BLM supporters. A woman wore a t-shirt reading "Lying Josie has got to go."

More than a dozen members of the Three Percent militia showed up with assault rifles and zip-tie handcuffs. Their local leader, Jerrad Robison, said people on the counter-protest side had asked them to come and "keep the peace."

These confrontations happened across the street from Prineville police headquarters. Police did not intervene to protect BLM protesters from the armed militia presence. They did not arrest the Three Percenters for brandishing weapons at a peaceful demonstration. They did not remove the Confederate flags.

They stood by. Because in Prineville, the armed far-right and the police are not opposing forces. They are neighbors, colleagues, and in documented cases, the same people.

Oath Keepers members in tactical gear on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021

When Cops Join the Militia

In October 2021, a data breach exposed the membership rolls of the Oath Keepers — the anti-government, anti-immigrant militia group that participated in the January 6 Capitol insurrection. OPB and Rolling Stone confirmed that dozens of Oregon law enforcement officers had paid dues to the organization, including active-duty police officers, sheriff's deputies, and corrections officers.

The earliest Oregon law enforcement officer in the leaked data joined in 2009. Others joined years later, well after the Oath Keepers had established their reputation as an extremist organization.

The Oath Keepers' stated mission is to recruit current and former military and law enforcement personnel. In Prineville, the local Oath Keepers chapter shares membership with both the Central Oregon Constitutional Guard and the Central Oregon Patriots — which itself overlaps with the Crook County GOP.

So here's the pipeline: militia group → county Republican Party → local police → and back again. The same people who show up to BLM protests with assault rifles are also the people running for county office, and also the people who should be protecting residents from racist violence.

The School Board: The Culture War's Front Line

The far-right infrastructure in Crook County doesn't stop at the police department. In 2023, OPB obtained emails showing that Crook County School Superintendent Sara Johnson spent months coordinating with a conservative activist — a relationship that raised questions about how religious and political ideologies were influencing decisions affecting children in a largely conservative, rural district.

Oregon's legislature has pushed back, approving bills to ban book bans and protect LGBTQ content in schools. But in Crook County, those protections run up against a power structure built by the same militia-political network described above. The same people who showed up armed at BLM protests are the ones showing up at school board meetings.

Three Percenters militia members standing in parking lot with rifles

ICE Raids and Community Resistance

The far-right grip on Crook County has real consequences for the most vulnerable. Central Oregon has been a consistent target of ICE raids and enforcement operations. Rep. Janelle Bynum has demanded answers about targeted raids in the region. In January 2026, 500+ people protested in Bend, with simultaneous actions in Prineville, Redmond, and Sisters.

In April 2026, after ICE agents shot a woman in Minneapolis and wounded two people in Portland, the "ICE Out For Good" movement organized protests across Central Oregon again. In a county where far-right militias patrol with impunity and police dismiss complaints from Black residents, the immigrant communities living and working there have every reason to fear both the federal agents and the local power structure that enables them.

The Stakes

What's happening in Prineville isn't an anomaly. It's a model. Far-right groups nationwide are following the same playbook: embed in local Republican parties, recruit from law enforcement and the military, intimidate opposition through armed presence, capture school boards, and ensure that police departments protect the right people — the armed ones.

In Prineville, that model is fully operational. The police chief called a Black woman a liar on the department's official page. Armed militias showed up at peaceful protests with police consent. Cops were literally on the membership rolls of an extremist organization. The schools are being targeted by the same network.

And until someone outside the town's power structure started paying attention, none of it was going to change.

The people of Prineville who stood up — Josie Stanfield, the BLM protesters, the immigrant families — did so knowing the police would not protect them. That's not a bug in the system. In Crook County, that's the feature.

We leave no lie in the dark.