The events in Ferguson
have shown us daily that the looting and violence by a few is not being
stopped, while the right of the people to peaceably assemble and
petition government for redress of grievances is not being respected.
The current riot control tactics of the local police, rooted in
outmoded techniques developed in the 1950's - and only made worse by
the ongoing militarization of our police - are failing the people of
Ferguson, giving them a false choice between rampant looting on the one
hand, and hyper-militarized police and curfews on the other (which
also fail to stop the looting, leaving the mistaken impression among
many of the American people that even more militarization and
curtailment of free speech and assembly is needed). Our local boots on
the ground, made up of retired police officers, military veterans, and
intelligence workers (with critical input from current serving
Missouri police officers) have answers that could provide the people of
Ferguson the relief they need and deserve while respecting their
rights. It is time to change a losing game.
The militarized police
response we saw in Ferguson did not work. All it did was violate the
rights of peaceful protesters and media, alienate the community, and
make our country look even more like a police state, with big,
intimidating displays of heavily armed, militarized officers, in full
"battle-rattle" and backed by BearCat type armored vehicles, firing CS
gas and rubber bullets into peaceful protesters and even at media
personnel, while failing to stop those relative few who were actually
looting, throwing Molotov cocktails, and shooting.
The police focus on
peaceful protesters, with lines of policemen equipped in riot gear, in
fundamentally static positions - at best, slow, plodding, on-line
advances - are easily thwarted by modern looters and thugs with cell
phones and team work. Such outdated tactics fail to apprehend those
actually looting and shooting.
What they do succeed in
doing is alienating the local population while risking additional
shooting incidents due to unsafe gun-handling. There were multiple
instances of police officers pointing M-4s and sniper rifles at
unarmed, peaceful protesters, media, and local residents just going
about their business, in displays of spectacularly unsafe weapons
discipline and methodology. As one of our police sniper veterans
pointed out, even police snipers deployed in response to prior
incidents of shots fired should have used spotting scopes to observe
the crowd and search for potential threats, not their rifle scopes.
Even worse were the
well-publicized incidents of officers routinely pointing M-4s at
unarmed protesters at close range for no apparent reason other than to
intimidate. An officer facing an actual lethal threat should be moving
to cover, not standing there in a static bunch with other officers,
using the rifle as a threat display. And a properly trained and
disciplined professional keeps his rifle pointed down, where it is
pointed in a safe direction but still ready to bring up on target
within a second at close range, and it stays pointed down unless and
until he identifies an actual lethal threat, while he uses his presence
and voice, first and foremost, to control the situation - all without
covering anyone with his muzzle.
Such over-the-top
threatening displays, with rifles pointed-in indiscriminately at
protesters and residents, only anger and frighten the people and
reinforce the perception that it is "the police vs. the people" rather
than the police vs. a small number of criminals, while risking the
lives of the very people our police are supposed to be serving.
And much like over-the
top and indiscriminate threat displays and use of force in Iraq lost
the hearts and minds of the locals, so too does it lose the battle for
hearts and minds here at home - assisting in the agendas of those who
wish to divide us along racial lines and create an "us vs. them"
mentality among both the people and the police.
The overt displays of
heavily armed officers lined up to intimidate the crowds were also
tactically unsound for the officers themselves, leaving them exposed in
the streets. The more skilled the opposition, the more such tactics
fail. So far, it has only been random, inaccurate, handgun fire
directed at the police in Ferguson, not rifle fire. Against rifle
fire, a long line of exposed officers standing in the open would be a
disaster for the police. One active duty police sergeant told us, "I
don't want my guys stationary - they just become targets for the thugs
throwing bricks and taking pot shots at us with their pistols." The
analysts in our group take this kind of feedback from the rank-and-file
very seriously, and you should too. And, again, it doesn't get the
job done. It doesn't secure the arrest of those who are looting and
shooting. It leaves the officers exposed while it only punishes and
threatens those who are there to protest - those who are not looting
and shooting.
Likewise for the
imposition of curfews, which violate the right of the people to
peaceably assemble, while also failing to stop the looters and shooters
who ignore such decrees. The First Amendment prohibits "abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of
grievances" period. It doesn't add on "unless a politician declares a
state of emergency and imposes a curfew." Nor does it say "unless
other people are looting and being violent, in which case all of you
lose your right to peaceably assemble." Curfews punish the peaceable
majority for the actions of a violent few, and again, alienate the
community and send the message that the police see them all as the enemy
and seek to trample on the rights of all of them.
The local police are
capable of handling the current situation in a way that both respects
the rights of the people and gets the actual criminals off the streets,
but only if a paradigm shift in strategy and tactics can be made. The
leadership, starting with you, Gov. Nixon, and on down the chain of
command, must make the changes that are needed to bring sane,
effective, and constitutional policing to this situation.
A Constitutional and Effective Strategy
One retired Special
Forces veteran in our group suggested that instead of grouping the
police officers in large blocks (50 to 100 men), that you should break
up these groups into rapid reaction teams of 20 to 25 officers and
disperse them, staging them in places spread around Ferguson, with a
focus on the looters, not the protesters. Our intelligence and police
veterans concurred, and added that you should also task some officers
to go out in street clothes to blend in to the crowds and work as
Scouts, identifying threats and looters. The plainclothes Scouts
should be directing the rapid reaction teams to protect the businesses
from the ongoing crime, and refocus the police assets away from
unconstitutional activities like shooting CS gas at peaceful protesters
and enforcing curfews, and get to the business of putting the real
criminals behind bars. If you think you need more minority officers
for this role, you could easily find them in the St. Louis County
Police Department, St. Charles County Sheriff Department, and other
local municipal police departments. The plainclothes officers can
identify and locate the trouble-makers and their caches and resources,
such as gas cans and bottles for Molotov cocktails, bricks, etc., and
they can also film the trouble-makers in support of later arrests and
prosecutions.
Those plainclothes
Scouts can also be directly backed up by small teams of five to seven
additional plainclothes officers to take down identified looters in a
manner that uses minimum force along with effective surprise applied
only to the actual suspected looter. And those plainclothes small
reaction teams can be further backed up by the uniformed rapid response
teams, if needed, as they apprehend the looters and shooters. If
possible, each officer should have a small, discrete camera - such as a
badge camera - pinned to their clothing and running at all times, so
that there is a recording of all that occurs.
An additional
recommendation from one of our members was that, rather than closing
portions of West Florrisant Avenue and ordering protesters to disperse,
officers could place cones on the street to reserve the center lane
for police use only (warning that any others entering that lane will be
arrested), staging officers at various points along that center lane
and using it for police vehicles, while leaving traffic free to move
North and South (with appropriate turn lanes interspersed), leaving the
sidewalks open for protesters and media, and not trying to confine
either to any particular area. That preserves the middle lane for
police to move freely back and forth along that critical two mile
stretch while not restricting free speech and assembly rights.
The initial response of
the Highway Patrol, to deescalate and demilitarize the situation, was
on the right track. However, it also failed to secure the arrest of
the looters. In fact, officers were explicitly told to not go after
the looters. De-escalating of militarized policing against peaceful
protesters was a good idea. But the "de-escalation" toward the looters
and shooters - intentionally NOT going after them - was insane and
failed to protect the people and businesses of Ferguson. Backing off
and letting the looters run free failed to solve the problem and
actually made it worse, with the success of the looters drawing
trouble-makers from all over the country, who came to Ferguson to loot
and shoot and incite more violence. As evidence of the failure, we now
have local business owners having to hire private security to protect
them from looting because the police in their community are failing to
do so.
De-escalation and
demilitarization must go hand-in-hand with effective policing that
stops the looters and shooters. The officers must be told that if they
see an act of looting or violence, they must arrest that man. That
needs to be the policy from the beginning to the end. Again, we
recommend the use of plainclothes officers and small reaction teams to
effectively arrest looters and shooters while respecting the rights of
the peaceable protesters.
With hundreds of
criminals stealing the businesses of Ferguson blind and damaging
private property, how many arrests of actual looters took place? The
percentage is embarrassing (and arrests of otherwise peaceful
protesters for "failure to disperse" or "failure to keep moving" don't
count). The Highway Patrol's tactics did not work, and it is time to
admit it. It was a mistake to remove St. Louis County from a command
role. Instead, Governor, you should have directed them to use their
considerable assets to go after the looters while respecting the right
of the people to peaceably assemble.
Likewise, bringing the
National Guard in for "force protection" secured the Command Location,
but what about all the other locations where people's lives were being
destroyed? The National Guard was not the answer. Effective, smart,
focused policing was. You did the right thing by finally pulling the
National Guard back out. Now you just need to direct the application
of effective, focused policing.
We need officers focused
on looters, not on bullying the media and protesters. We need
officers to put violent criminals in jail, not shoot tear gas and
rubber bullets at reporters too ignorant to not shine lights in the
officers' eyes while they are trying to work. We need a Governor smart
enough to reject the riot control tactics developed before cell phones
- tactics that are now failing catastrophically - and smart enough to
not try to stifle free speech and violate our Bill of Rights. We need a
Governor to show enough wisdom to lead our state by the Constitution
rather than against it with ineffective abuses like curfews. Governor
Nixon, tell us you are wise enough to defeat the criminals without
violating our rights. No, SHOW us you are wise enough to change your
failing tactics and demand from your men that they discern between
peaceful protesters and looting thugs. SHOW US, you will protect the
rights of the FREE PRESS and have the courage to demand your officers
arrest the real bad guys. Stop gassing the innocent and start
arresting the looters!
Wisdom and discernment
will go a long way on the streets of Ferguson, and it is time you focus
the police on putting real criminals behind bars, not reporters and
peaceful protesters. It is time the people of Ferguson look up and
see a beautiful moon, instead of a cloud of smoke and tear gas. Truth
demands change.
A Critical Warning
In closing, we must warn
you that you are making a grave mistake by continuing the pattern of
militarization and abuse of rights that we saw during Occupy Wall
Street (with curfews imposed on peaceful protesters, who were wrongly
ordered to disperse and then pepper-sprayed at point-blank range); with
the egregious death of Marine combat veteran Jose Guerena at the hands
of a Tucson SWAT team while serving a mere search warrant; during the
response to the Boston Bombing (with families being ordered out of
their homes at gun-point, with many veterans telling us that the people
of Iraq were treated with more respect and consideration than they saw
in Watertown, Massachusetts); and with the recent horrendous use of
"First Amendment Areas," military trained snipers, and militarized,
heavy-handed Federal law enforcement at Bundy Ranch in Bunkerville,
Nevada that galvanized veterans from all across America to travel there
to prevent that ranching family from being "Waco'd" (with the
Washington Times later disclosing that the Obama Administration did, in
fact, consider using military force against the Bundy family and their
supporters, but thankfully decided not to). Those examples only
scratch the surface of a systemic problem that has been ratcheting up
over the years in nearly every community in America, as Washington Post
journalist Radley Balko has exhaustively documented.
The rapidly escalating
militarization of America's police is fundamentally incompatible with
our Constitution and incompatible with a free nation, and inevitably
leads to violence against We the People and gross violations of our
rights, for which so many of our brothers have fought, bled, and died
throughout this nation's history.
For us, this is not
about race. This is about defending the Bill of Rights, which is a
shield against government abuse that is meant to protect ALL Americans,
of whatever color. Those of us who served as Marine or Army infantry
learned to see only one color: green. Some of our brothers in our
fire-teams and squads were dark green, while others were medium or
light green, but they were all our brothers, and in combat, they all
bled the same color - red - in defense of this nation and in defense of
the Constitution, which each of us swore an oath to defend against all
enemies, foreign and domestic. And the same can be said for those
constitutional Sheriffs and police officers among us who still know
what it means to be a peace officer, not a "law enforcer."
The militarization of
our police is not a "black problem." It's an American problem, and it
affects all of us. Senator Rand Paul is right. We must demilitarize
our police. Governor Nixon, you stand at a critical moment in
history. You must reverse course and set the example for other states
to follow, to demilitarize our police and bring police methods back
within the bounds of the Constitution. A failure to do so will further
place millions of us American veterans who still take our oaths
seriously on a fateful collision course with a burgeoning police state
that is going down the same road that other nations have traveled, with
tragic ends.
Our grandfathers and
fathers fought against totalitarian police states overseas. Please
don't force us to fight against one here at home. Demilitarize the
police now, and let us all live in peace under the Constitution, with
liberty, and justice, for all.
Missouri Oath Keepers
