The man said he walked along streets in the area to collect any fliers he saw resting in driveways, roughly 45 fliers in total.
Representatives of the Springfield Police Division also stated that a call came in on the same day related to the dissemination of Ku Klux Klan fliers in a city neighborhood. Police stated that early in the morning, a resident in the 2300 block of Irwin Avenue reported finding a flyer at the bottom of their driveway. When officers arrived at the scene, they later found 12 other fliers in the area.
The fliers in that incident and the packaging they were contained in matched the description given by the man doing contract work near Burnett Road.
Sara Winkle, an area resident, said she and her children walked around the affected neighborhoods with a five-gallon bucket to collect any stray fliers, finding four, some across the way from Warder Park-Wayne Elementary School.
The police division is currently looking into the situation and is asking those who may have more information regarding the dissemination of Klan fliers to contact the division.
Though the recruitment fliers themselves and the passing out of those fliers are not illegal as those acts are protected under the first amendment, local law enforcement is still looking into the incident due to those recruiting materials being associated with a hate group that has a violent history.
“We are not looking into it as a criminal act. We are looking at it for the sake of public safety and intelligence and knowing what is going on,” said Springfield Police Chief Lee Graf.
Graf said that a few days before fliers were found in Springfield, similar ones were reported in the Worthington and Sharon Twp. areas near Columbus. Graf noted that similar incidents happen every year in Ohio in different places.
Graf said that the police division is in contact with law enforcement in the Worthington and Sharon Township area.
The Springfield Police Division has also reached out to the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force to see if those agencies had any further information regarding Klan activity or if there is anything local law enforcement should be alerted to.
Graf said that those agencies did not have any further information and were not aware of any future plans by the Klan in the area.
“I understand the public’s concern. But, I do not think that the public in Springfield should be afraid. I have no indications that this is any kind of indicator or tripwire for further activity,” said Graf, who noted that groups like the Klan look to stir up reactions from local communities and try to generate attention.
Springfield NAACP president Denise Williams said the presence of the fliers causes fear for her loved ones and the community.
“You know, we have to worry about homelessness, gun violence, the rise of food costs, gas costs,” she said. “And now, we have to worry about this.”
The Springfield NAACP is meeting next week with area law enforcement agencies to discuss a plan moving forward, Williams said.
