How Many Local Police Went to DC to Overthrow Democracy?
Chances are good that local police officers were among those storming the U.S. Capital last week, as part of a mob bent on attacking the processes and symbols of democracy in the service of authoritarianism.
How do I know this? Simple deduction.
The fingerprints of law enforcement enabling and participating in this event are all over the place, ranging from the white Capitol Police officers who played nice (even as their Black colleagues were being chased by mobs), to the failure of Federal agencies to take numerous warnings from ordinary citizens about the violence being planned openly on social networks.
From Propublica:
On Wednesday afternoon, a thin line of U.S. Capitol Police, with only a few riot shields between them and a knot of angry protesters, engaged in hand-to-hand combat with rioters on the steps of the West Front. They struggled with a flimsy set of barricades as a mob in helmets and bulletproof vests pushed its way toward the Capitol entrance. Videos showed officers stepping aside, and sometimes taking selfies, as if to usher Trump’s supporters into the building they were supposed to guard.
While much of the media coverage has focused on the chaotic nature of the invasion, there were elements who entered the building intent on eliminating the top part of the line of succession to the presidency.
https://twitter.com/jimbourg/status/1347559078831284227?s=20
This Washington Post story clearly describes the dangers within the building and the desperate efforts of people trapped in various locations seeking help.
https://twitter.com/59dallas/status/1346963199778828290?s=20
The FBI, according to the Sunday Union Tribune, says they are looking at individuals from the San Diego area who participated in the melee.
The New York Times says police departments from around the country have already identified their personnel as participants and are seeking to determine if they were involved in unlawful acts.
In Seattle, the Police Department announced on Friday that two officers were being placed on administrative leave after attending the demonstration. Internal investigators would determine if the officers were directly involved in any of the illegal events, Chief Adrian Diaz said in a statement.
And in Troy, N.H., Richard Thackston, the head of the town Board of Selectmen expressed support for the police chief, David Ellis, after there were calls for his resignation for attending the events in Washington. Neither man responded to telephone messages left at the town hall and with the police dispatcher.
From Politico:
One current Metro D.C. police officer said in a public Facebook post that off-duty police officers and members of the military, who were among the rioters, flashed their badges and I.D. cards as they attempted to overrun the building. “If these people can storm the Capitol building with no regard to punishment, you have to wonder how much they abuse their powers when they put on their uniforms,” the officer wrote.
From Buzzfeed News:
“That was a heavily trained group of militia terrorists that attacked us,” said the officer, who has been with the department for more than a decade. “They had radios, we found them, they had two-way communicators and earpieces. They had bear spray. They had flash bangs ... They were prepared. They strategically put two IEDs, pipe bombs in two different locations. These guys were military trained. A lot of them were former military,” the veteran said, referring to two suspected pipe bombs that were found outside the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee.
The officer even described coming face to face with police officers from across the country in the mob. He said some of them flashed their badges, telling him to let them through, and trying to explain that this was all part of a movement that was supposed to help.
“You have the nerve to be holding a blue lives matter flag, and you are out there fucking us up,” he told one group of protestors he encountered inside the Capitol. “[One guy] pulled out his badge and he said, ‘we’re doing this for you.’ Another guy had his badge. So I was like, ‘well, you gotta be kidding.’”
Support for the event in law enforcement circles is further documented via an NBC News report:
An arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association, a national group representing the top law enforcement officers in their states, sent out robocalls encouraging people to march to the U.S. Capitol the day before the building was stormed by a pro-Trump mob.
“At 1 p.m., we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal,” said the voice on the recording, which was obtained by NBC News.
The calls, which did not advocate violence or suggest the building should be breached, was sent out by the Rule of Law Defense Fund, a fundraising arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association. The groups share funding, staff and office space in Washington, D.C.
And then there is the the overlap between right wing, white supremacist and hate groups and law enforcement officers on social media platforms as documented by Will Carless and Michael Corey:
These cops have worked at every level of American law enforcement, from tiny, rural sheriff’s departments to the largest agencies in the country, such as the Los Angeles and New York police departments. They work in jails and schools and airports, on boats and trains and in patrol cars. And, Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting discovered, they also read and contribute to groups such as “White Lives Matter” and “DEATH TO ISLAM UNDERCOVER.”
The groups cover a range of extremist ideologies. Some present themselves publicly as being dedicated to benign historical discussion of the Confederacy, but are replete with racism inside. Some trade in anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant memes. Some are openly Islamophobic. And almost 150 of the officers we found are involved with violent anti-government groups such as the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters.
Blue lives matter, except when the don't, apparently:
https://twitter.com/GreggFavre/status/1348275257132638210?s=20
San Diego, which has a long history of being fertile ground for extremists, was home for Ashley Babbitt, the QAnon supporter killed in this past week’s attempted coup attempt. (Despite a long and very public history of being involved in right wing causes, she’s now being denounced as an “undercover antifa agent” on right wing social media platforms.)
From Kristina Davis’ account in the Union-Tribune:
So it came as no surprise to many that San Diego found itself in the national spotlight this past week, spurred by the shooting death of an Ocean Beach woman who was at the front of a pro-Trump mob that tore its way into the U.S. Capitol.
The incident adds to a history of extremism that has plagued San Diego over the decades, from the recently deceased Tom Metzger’s violent White Aryan Resistance movement in the 1980s to anti-immigrant vigilantism along the border in more recent years.
“San Diegans participated in the premeditated overthrow of the democratic process,” said Joel Day, a professor of public policy at UC San Diego and a former city of San Diego official. “No, I’m not surprised, and nevertheless incredibly disappointed and horrified.”
When it comes to our local police departments, it doesn’t take very much time on Google (or actual experience at demonstrations) to figure out that right wingers and racists are part of the culture.
Those who would say these assertions are old news should consider the following sampling of news accounts from the past year. (For those of you who are history minded, a look at the SDPD/FBI overlap with the Secret Army Organization is instructive.)
December 19, 2020 via the local Fox News outlet:
Mayor Todd Gloria addressed an offensive video Saturday circulated among San Diego police officers that reportedly featured images of Adolf Hitler and a bigoted slur against Gloria.
The city’s new mayor said he has directed the San Diego Police Department’s chief to continue an internal investigation that is underway.
From KTLA (and the LA Times) on September 28, 2020:
San Diego police have launched an internal investigation into allegations that an officer posted a photo on social media that appeared to make light of a makeshift memorial for a man who was fatally shot by the officer and a partner in late June.
San Diego police spokesman Lt. Shawn Takeuchi said the department fielded complaints Thursday last week via social media about the Instagram photo allegedly posted by Officer Jonathon Lucas. Takeuchi said Police Chief David Nisleit immediately ordered an internal investigation into the matter.
Head of San Diego NAACP calls for firing of San Diego County sheriff's deputy over 'vile' photo- City News Service July 7, 2020
A prominent local civil rights leader called on the San Diego County Sheriff's Department Monday to fire a deputy who allegedly shared a "lewd and racist and vile" altered photograph of George Floyd taken from the viral video of the Minnesota man's death in police custody.
The doctored image showed a nude male "porn star" kneeling on Floyd in place of Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, who kept his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes as the detainee repeatedly protested that he could not breathe, according to NAACP San Diego Branch President Francine Maxwell. Floyd died on Memorial Day.
Read about how the SDPD influenced the city council to suppress research on racial disparities in policing in this June 17, 2020 Union-Tribune op-ed.
During 2018 political campaigns in San Diego, supporters of County DA Summer Stephan repeatedly used the same conspiracy laden (and anti Semitic) propaganda propagated by far right fringe groups about George Soros to oppose a reform candidate.
An experience with the San Diego Sheriff’s Department in July 2017 as they stood by while Proud Boys harassed and threatened a peaceful protest at the County Administrative Building gives me a personal window into the potential for overlap.
And then there was the confrontation between Trumpanistas and assorted counter demonstrators in Pacific Beach on Saturday.
https://twitter.com/waterspider__/status/1348046520424173568?s=20
So the question begs for an answer: has anybody checked out the thousands of photos posted on social media to see if local police were involved?
While they would certainly have a First Amendment right to express their viewpoints, I’m not sure that having supporters of sedition in local law enforcement is something that can be tolerated.
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Lead image: San Diego Sheriffs 'negotiated' with Proud Boys in 2017, giving them the ability to disrupt a peaceful demonstration at the County Administration Building.