Police Face Complaints of Tolerating White Vigilantes

I have long maintained that there are many individuals on police forces who should not have a badge and a gun given their temperament and bigotry.  Yes, my view remains colored perhaps by gay bashing I received years ago at the hands of Norfolk police officers which was followed by extensive efforts by the department's internal affairs to protect the misbehaving officers. Compounding the problem is the relative lack of training of many police compared to that of other advanced nations. Now, an added concern has arisen as some police seem to be coddling if not protecting right wing militia members compared to other protesters despite the fact that statistics show the far right to be the biggest cause of violence. My view is that no one - leftist or far right - should be allowed to have guns in public.  Period, end of discussion.  Yet recent events show that those bearing arms are predominantly white self-styled militias and that they receive preferential treatment from police.  A piece in the Washington Post looks at the disturbing problem.  Here are highlights:

In a video recorded shortly before two people were fatally shot last week in Kenosha, Wis., the accused gunman — Kyle Rittenhouse, 17 — circulates among a group of gun-wielding men who claim to be guarding a service station amid protests against police brutality.

Although it is well past curfew, police passing in an armored vehicle offer the group bottles of water and some friendly encouragement, saying over a loudspeaker: “We appreciate you guys. We really do.”

As protesters march against racism and police violence in cities and towns across the nation, they are being confronted by groups of armed civilians who claim to be assisting and showing support for police battered and overwhelmed by the protests. The confrontations have left at least three people dead in recent days: In addition to the two protesters killed Tuesday in Kenosha, a man thought to be associated with a far-right group called Patriot Prayer was fatally shot late Saturday in Portland, Ore.

Both incidents have drawn complaints that local authorities abetted the violence by tolerating the presence of these self-appointed enforcers with no uniforms, varied training and limited accountability. The stated motives of these vigilante actors, who are virtually indistinguishable from one another once massed on the streets, range from protecting storefronts and free speech to furthering White supremacy and fomenting civil war.

Many sheriffs and police chiefs, including in Kenosha, have disavowed these armed civilians, saying police don’t want their help.

But elsewhere, local authorities have at times appeared to support people who took up arms against protests that have occasionally turned violent and provided cover for vandals and looters. In Snohomish, Wash., the police chief was ousted in June after welcoming dozens of armed men, including one waving a Confederate flag, who responded to false Internet rumors that “antifa” looters planned to ransack the town, referring to a loosely knit movement of far-left activists.

In Hood County, Tex., a constable in May encouraged the Oath Keepers — an armed group that claims to have thousands of members of current and former law enforcement and military members — to defend a Dallas hair salon after rumors of possible looting. And in Salem, Ore., a police officer was captured on video in June advising armed men to “discreetly” stay inside while police began arresting protesters for violating curfew.

On other occasions, police officers have been photographed smiling or fist-bumping with members of far-right armed groups. Even in Kenosha, individual police officers seemed to welcome the help of armed civilians, including Rittenhouse . . . .

In a letter last week to Kenosha officials, Mary B. McCord, legal director at Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, said “the bloodshed . . . throws into sharp relief the danger posed when private and unaccountable militia groups take the law into their own hands.”

McCord has called on police and prosecutors to enforce laws that prohibit private militias from usurping law enforcement functions. In her letter, she noted that “several provisions of Wisconsin law prohibit private paramilitary and unauthorized law enforcement activity.”

“Police officers, district attorneys, leaders in law enforcement here and across the country have to make it unambiguously clear to anyone that it is not their job — it is the role of law enforcement — to” defend property, Torrez [district attorney in Bernalillo County, N.M] said. Militia groups are “not hearing that message from enough leadership in law enforcement. And this takes us down a very, very dangerous path.”

In Portland and other places, law enforcement has been accused of treating far-right groups more leniently than leftist protesters.

Ross has compiled a database of 497 public appearances of militias and far-right groups in about 300 U.S. counties since May, including 56 that he says suggest collaboration with police.

This summer, for instance, a commissioner in Bonner County, Idaho, called on residents to mobilize against a Black Lives Matter protest planned for Sandpoint, the county seat. His Facebook post asked people to “help counter anything that might get out of hand,” drawing a rebuke from Sandpoint Mayor Shelby Rognstad, who called it “grossly irresponsible.”

Elsewhere, local officials have advised civilians to be prepared to use violence to defend themselves. At a June news conference responding to rumors on social media of possible riots, the sheriff in Polk County, Fla., warned would-be lawbreakers that local residents “have guns. I encourage them to own guns. And they’re going to be in their homes tonight, with their guns loaded.”

This month, a complaint was filed with the city of Cottonwood Heights, Utah, by a resident who said he and his wife were “followed, harassed and intimidated by five heavily armed individuals in a White Dodge pickup” after protesting racial discrimination. The man, who spoke on the condition of anonymity citing fears for his safety, said he and his wife showed video of the encounter to police — including evidence that the truck lacked license plates.

[A] video suggests that police handled Rittenhouse differently from the typical murder suspect. That recording shows him in the middle of the street, assault rifle dangling, hands up in surrender. A man can be heard shouting that Rittenhouse had just shot several people.

But instead of taking the teen into custody, police drive right past him. According to his attorneys, Rittenhouse turned himself in to police later that night.

Something is seriously wrong.