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Georgia senate hopeful Herschel Walker was rebuked during a debate on Friday night for bringing out a ‘police badge’ in response to an attack on his previous false claims to be in law enforcement – insisting that he ‘works with many police officers’.
Walker, 60, has in the past claimed to be a FBI agent, a ‘certified peace officer’, and a member of Cobb County police.
His opponent Raphael Warnock said he had ‘never pretended to be a police officer, and I’ve never threatened a shoot out with the police’.
In September 2001, the former NFL player threatened a shoot out with officers responding to a domestic disturbance at his Texas home, according to a police report.
Walker on Friday told Warnock: ‘I have to respond to that.
‘And you know what’s so funny? I am. Work with many police officers.’
Herschel Walker, 60, is pictured on Friday night holding up his ‘police badge’ during the debate
Walker was responding to his opponent, Raphael Warnock, mocking his claims to be in law enforcement
Walker has repeatedly claimed to be in law enforcement, and was rebuked on Friday for brandishing the prop
He then drew what looked like a fake police badge from his suit jacket pocket – drawing a rebuke from the moderator, who said bringing props to the debate was against the rules.
Walker’s spokesman earlier this summer told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which dug out multiple examples of Walker claiming to be a member of law enforcement, that he was an honorary deputy in Cobb County, along with three other unspecified Georgia counties.
The Cobb County Police Department told the paper it had no record of involvement with Walker.
The Cobb Sheriff’s Office could not say whether he was an honorary deputy.
J. Tom Morgan, the former DeKalb County district attorney, said the badge – even if it was handed to Walker – was worthless.
‘It gives you absolutely no law enforcement authority,’ he said. ‘It’s like a junior ranger badge.’
Morgan said many communities in Georgia stopped handing them out amid fears they could be used to impersonate a police officer, which is a felony.
Walker is pictured in September 2021, addressing a rally in Perry, Georgia
Walker is pictured in September 2019, speaking at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state
Walker told the crowd: ‘I worked for law enforcement, y’all didn’t know that either? I spent time at Quantico at the FBI training school. Y’all didn’t know I was an agent?’
Walker has spent over 20 years claiming to work in law enforcement.
In 2000, he told Irving, Texas, police that he was ‘a certified peace officer,’ according to a police report obtained by the newspaper.
In 2013, he told an Army suicide prevention event that, in 2001, he chased down a man who was late delivering a car.
‘I worked in law enforcement, so I had a gun,’ Walker said.
‘I put this gun in my holster and I said, ‘I’m gonna kill this dude.’
The paper reported that, in 2017, he declared: ‘I work with the Cobb County Police Department, and I’ve been in criminal justice all my life.’
And in September 2019, he went further, appearing on stage at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state to tell an auditorium of soldiers in combat fatigues: ‘I worked for law enforcement, y’all didn’t know that either?
‘I spent time at Quantico at the FBI training school. Y’all didn’t know I was an agent?’
Pressed by the paper to explain his claim, Walker’s spokesman in June said he once attended a training camp in 1989, when he was retiring from professional sport.
‘They had an obstacle course and you shoot at targets to protect your partner as you advanced up the course,’ he told the AP at the time.
‘I had fun. There were about 200 recruits there.’
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