First in a series
[img]2705|right|Chief Scott Bixby||no_popup[/img]With the powder keg St. Louis suburb of Ferguson threatening to erupt any hour, the ultimate question for Police Chief Scott Bixby was:
Would you like to be the chief of police in Ferguson?
He would answer later, as he would to the challenge: Do you have a strategy for keeping the popular response bloodless?
First, though, this question was posed:
If you were chief today, how would you be preparing your officers and others in anticipation of the grand jury verdict in last August’s officer killing of the 18-year-old suspect Michael Brown?
“I am not speaking for the chief because I am not there,” said Mr. Bixby, who marks his own seven-month anniversary as chief this morning. “The preparations should have started. Under the circumstances, I would have started long in advance of right now.
“Basically, I would prepare by getting in touch with other law enforcement entities throughout the region, maybe even the state. I believe that is what is happening.
“The message has to be – I don’t remember who said it – ‘The people have a right to state their opinion, but they don’t have a right to destroy property or infringe on other people’s rights.’”
Collaboration, Chief Bixby concludes, is critical.
“The very best you can do is coordinate with other law enforcement agencies,” he said. “Have contingency plans for things like medical evacuation. Have a place already established for people to conduct whatever protest they may want to do
“Have a route planned to try and control the crowd, wherever you want to keep them. Give them a place where they can go and protest, if that is what they want.
(To be continued)
