Quakertown ICE protest brings scrutiny to police chief’s unusual dual role and social media posts

When Scott McElree was named top cop in Quakertown in 2004, borough leaders saw a reformer who could boost public trust. And he did so well in the role that, three years later, they gave him a second job — borough manager.

It’s rare for a municipality to appoint someone to run both the police department and oversee everyday municipal matters, from payroll to public records. But McElree embraced the challenge.

“I’ll plow snow, too, if it’s needed,” he told a newspaper columnist in 2007.

That unusual arrangement is now under scrutiny after a student protest over federal immigration enforcement escalated into a bloody clash last week involving McElree and his officers − as are social media posts in his name that have criticized Democrats, calling them “a domestic terrorist organization.”

Cell phone videos of the Feb. 20 walkout against ICE show the altercation began after McElree, 72, confronted a group of Quakertown Community High School students. In the footage, teenagers appear to strike the chief, who was not wearing his uniform, as he attempts to grab a student.

McElree is seen on the sidewalk placing a teenage girl in a chokehold. Five teens were charged Tuesday with aggravated assault and related offenses. According to an affidavit of probable cause for the arrest of one of the teens, McElree left the scene bloodied, and later sought care at a local hospital for undisclosed injuries. The affidavit doesn’t mention a chokehold.

The clash has raised questions over whether the plain-clothed McElree was identifiable as the borough’s top cop when he intervened. The incident has also intensified calls for his resignation and focused a national spotlight on his unconventional dual authority.

“We have a 72-year-old white man, in flannel clothing, angry, unidentified, running into a crowd of children and tackling them,” said Timothy Prendergast, a defense attorney representing the 15-year-old girl witnesses captured on video being held in McElree’s chokehold.

Neither McElree nor the seven elected council members responded to requests for comment from The Inquirer. An attorney for the borough, Peter Nelson, declined to comment by email. He shared a statement from the council, which said its members are “very disturbed by the circumstances surrounding this incident” and have asked for the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office to investigate.

Prendergast said the muted response from borough officials over the protest illustrates the conflict with the top manager: “If we wanted to get information on the chief of police, we couldn’t, because we’d have to go through the chief of police. It’s conveniently inappropriate.”

Prior to the protest, McElree did not have a record of aggressive policing. Court documents show he was sued three times in 20 years for alleged civil rights violations, mainly involving subordinate officers whom McElree was accused of failing to supervise. Two of those cases were dismissed. One ended with a $60,000 settlement offer, court records show.

McElree, of Lafayette Hill, has been a police officer in suburban Philadelphia for five decades. He graduated from the FBI National Academy in 1995, but his public service remained on the local level.

He served as a detective and sergeant in Whitemarsh Township for 29 years until his elevation to police chief in Quakertown — a rank he had aspired to since his youth. More than 70 police officers applied for the position.

“When I was a young officer, I was very desirous of being a chief,” McElree said in 2004, according to an article in the Morning Call. “I wanted to stay in police work and ascend to the top.”

In 2007, Quakertown’s council appointed McElree as interim borough manager after the abrupt departure of longtime manager Dave Woglom. But the borough council never hired a new full-time replacement, instead naming McElree to take on both jobs.

McElree helped modernize the department and improve morale among police officers that had waned under prior leadership, according to a former township official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to frankly discuss his former colleagues.

But the former official said the current situation is an example of what can go wrong with a dual appointment. The borough manager should be able to oversee the actions of a police chief. But in this case, they are one in the same.

“There’s a reason you don’t see this [arrangement],” said the former official. “Council is having to make decisions without the direction of the borough manager, because he’s conflicted.”

Amid calls for his resignation and outrage from parents, speculation has swirled on social media about McElree’s political leanings.

Outside of police work, McElree obtained a master’s degree in business administration from Liberty College, an evangelical school in Virginia founded by Jerry Falwell Jr. that calls itself one of the “most conservative” campuses in the nation.

Voting records show McElree and his wife, Arlene Kosh McElree, are both registered Republicans. A Facebook account under his wife’s name features a profile picture of a hand-drawn sign that reads: “When I die do not let me vote Democrat.”

McElree’s own social media footprint appears faint. But an account he shares with his wife on Truth Social, which President Donald Trump founded, has made a handful posts critical of Democrats and Democratic policies in recent years. The account features a photo of the couple, though it is not clear which of them penned the posts.

In August, responding to a Trump post criticizing Democrats, the McElree account wrote a screed that described the party as “a deep state oligarchy” and “domestic terrorist organization.”

“Dem politicians should be impeached/fired and have their salaries & benefits cut off,” the post read. “Dem judges should be disbarred … all should be banned from politics for life.”

“NO MORE DEMS,” read another post, reacting to a Trump statement on the eve of the November general election.

According to open source data, McElree also used an official government email address to create an account on Rumble, a Canadian video-sharing platform that is popular in conservative and far-right circles. He has not posted any videos and his viewing history is not public.

Prendergast, the defense attorney, said he was concerned by the social media posts, which contained what he described as “literally every MAGA hard right-wing talking point.”

An organizer from Bucks Back the Blue, a police support group, stood by the chief and borough manager, describing him as a tireless and level-headed leader. The organizer recalled McElree attending Black Lives Matter protests during the pandemic, “engaging with our community members and listening to their thoughts and concerns.”

“Quakertown has always been an epicenter for peaceful protests,” said the organizer, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to fears of public retaliation. “Chief Scott McElree isn’t a bad cop. He isn’t a bad person. Just like those kids aren’t bad kids.”