An Open Letter To Missouri Governor Nixon from Oath
Keepers
There are only two things we should fight for. One is the
defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. - Marine General Smedley Butler - Two-time recipient of
the Medal of Honor.
Governor
Nixon:
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 Such outdated tactics fail to apprehend those actually looting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
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