Residents of Ferguson, Missouri, remained on edge Tuesday as they awaited the findings of a grand jury investigation that will determine whether to charge a white police officer with murder for shooting an unarmed black teen on the streets of the St. Louis suburb.
After the August 9 confrontation between Officer Darren Wilson and 18-year-old Michael Brown, a series of protests and some violent riots swept through Ferguson. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and other officials made a public plea Tuesday for calm, trying to prevent similar unrest following the grand jury’s decision — whatever it may be.
“That ugliness was not representative of Missouri, and it cannot be repeated,” Mr. Nixon, a Democrat, told reporters Tuesday. “As governor, the most important part of my job is keeping the people of Missouri safe.”
The governor said that state law enforcement agencies would be prepared to handle any possible riots when a decision — expected sometime this month — is made but would also protect the rights of peaceful protesters to express their views.
Mr. Nixon said that communication would be better between city, county and state police and that state National Guard troops would be on standby should they be needed. The governor also said that many officers have received specialized training on crowd control.
But Mr. Nixon insisted that the preparations aren’t because officials expect rioting.
“These measures are not being taken because we are convinced that violence will occur, but because we have a responsibility to prepare for any contingency,” he said.
Missouri police were heavily criticized for their handling of the unrest in Ferguson following the shooting. While there were several violent clashes between police and rioters, the pictures that grabbed national headlines were photos of police in full riot gear, carrying military equipment and backed up by armored vehicles, confronting unarmed peaceful protesters.
Last week, audiotapes of conversations between local law enforcement and the Federal Aviation Administration obtained by The Associated Press seemed to indicate that police requested a no-fly zone around Ferguson expressly to keep news helicopters out of the area.
Some St. Louis-area residents remain concerned about how the police will react after the grand jury investigation, especially if they find that Mr. Wilson should be brought up on murder charges.
Andy Stepanian, a spokesman for several protest groups, told The Associated Press that many people were training on how to peacefully take notes and record video of the police.
“There is a significant effort to make sure that people’s rights are protected and that there’s no violence on either side,” Mr. Stepanian said.
While tensions in Ferguson continued to rise, Mr. Brown’s parents traveled to Switzerland to address the United Nations Committee Against Torture.
Though the session was closed to the press, Mr. Brown’s parents — Michael Brown Sr. and Lesley McSpadden — and their supporters released a report saying they believe the police had used a “few isolated incidents” of violence to justify widespread action against protesters.
“The most egregious acts of excessive force by law enforcement in Ferguson took place during the protests in the weeks following Brown’s murder, when law enforcement officials donned riot gear, tanks, armored vehicles and other military-style armaments and placed the town under siege in response to largely peaceful protests,” the report said.
Police, the statement said, engaged in “brutal repression of protesters using intimidation tactics and disproportionate force without distinction or regard for who would be harmed.”
In addition to the grand jury, which will decide whether Officer Wilson should be brought up on criminal charges, the Justice Department has also launched a civil rights investigation to see if the Ferguson police department has a history of discrimination or abuse of force.
• Phillip Swarts can be reached at pswarts@washingtontimes.com.
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