I'm recalling the words of HERONORDAMAER of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, during the Freddie Gray riots of 2017, when she said, “We also gave those who wish to destroy space to do that as well.” Then again, we are talking "experts," and their "studies" now.
Reading Sunday morning's Houston Chronicle, the usual suspects are saying police screwed up, that the innocent rioters were not allowed to destroy, excuse me. peacefully protest. Then again, it's a NY Times article, so it's be fair, balanced, and accurate, right?
By Kim Barker, Mike Baker and Ali Watkins NEW YORK TIMES
For many long weeks last summer, protesters in American cities faced off against their own police forces in what proved to be, for major law enforcement agencies across the country, a startling display of violence and disarray.
In Philadelphia, police sprayed tear gas on a crowd of mainly peaceful protesters trapped on an interstate who had nowhere to go and no way to breathe. In Chicago, officers were given arrest kits so old that the plastic handcuffs were decayed or broken. Los Angeles officers were issued highly technical foam-projectile launchers for crowd control, but many of them had only two hours of training; one of the projectiles bloodied the eye of a homeless man in a wheelchair. Nationally, at least eight people were blinded after being hit with police projectiles.
Forgive me for an obvious question. I'm recalling James T. Kirk in Star Trek The Worst, AKA Star Trek V The Final Frontier, when the captain asks the purported almighty, "What does God need with a starship?" The "crows of mainly peaceful protesters trapped on an interstate," what were they doing on an interstate? People cannot be on highways because there is an excellent chance of getting killed. In January 2017, I was part of a field force where the site commander said, "Let them protest all they want on the sidewalks, median, but don't let them get on the interstate..." I was thinking, "Chief...I would pay ten bucks to watch that!"
No question (if true) Chicago should have their arrest kits ready. Then again, it's a radical Democrat city, so expect things to be screwed up. And something about 'journalism" these days, it may not be completely accurate. For instance, two arrest kits out of 100 may show a slight failure on deployment preparation, not a complete failure of a system. Seeing Pravda on the Hudson is not putting this in context, e.g. "Chicago has old and brittle plastic cuffs in 250 of 1000 arrest kits..,"let's just take this with skepticism.
Complaining that Los Angeles police may have not been fully trained is a legitimate question. However, how much time is needed for the officer's to get trained on foam projectors? Also, this article says "at least eight people were blinded after being hit by police projectiles." OK, did those incidents have anything to do with the BLM/ANTIFA riots? This "article" implies that, and it's not beneath the 4th Estate to lead people to a false conclusion.
Almost uniformly, the reports said departments need more training in how to handle large protests. They also offered a range of recommendations to improve outcomes in the future: Departments need to better work with community organizers, including enlisting activists to participate in trainings or consulting with civil rights attorneys on protest-management policies. Leaders need to develop more restrictive guidelines and better supervision of crowd control munitions, such as tear gas. Officers need more training to manage their emotions and aggressions as part of de-escalation strategies.
I've heard the cliche of cops needing "de-escalation" training for ages, but one thing I don't hear from the experts. Perhaps the "protestors" should better manage their emotions and aggressions. Protesting is one thing, blocking roads, destroying businesses, assaulting people just trying to get to work, that's another. But for some reason the experts never seem to think the BLM/ANTIFA rioters are at fault for the destruction they cause.
I recently wrote a post (for another publication) on how the Derek Chauvin trial is not an open and shut case. If the prosecution fails to make its case (and seeing they are being led by a politician, not a prosecutor, that's makes it tougher), we are going through this again this summer. Perhaps the usual suspects should start training the rioters in "de-escalation" and "managing their emotions."
