Law Enforcement Coordinated Response to #NoDAPL Protests With Pipeline Security Contractor, and So What?

A left wing website called The Intercept obtained and published a bunch of documents illustrating coordination between law enforcement personnel a contractors working on behalf of the Dakota Access Pipeline company during the violent and unlawful #NoDAPL protests last year.

“TigerSwan used military-style counter-terrorism measures against what it considered ‘an ideologically driven insurgency,’ the documents show,” the Associated Press reports. “Its tactics included protest camp flyovers, video surveillance, social media monitoring, public relations — described in one document as ‘pro-DAPL propaganda’ — and interactions with law enforcement. That included placing a liaison in the law enforcement operations center.”

Was there anyone operating under the impression that this wasn’t happening?

The #NoDAPL protests consisted of violent extremists running roughshod over south central North Dakota. They threw bombs.

They lit construction equipment on fire and slashed tires on law enforcement vehicles.

They blocked a highway and violently resisted law enforcement efforts to remove them.

They ran one security contractor’s truck off the road and then set it on fire with a flare gun.

They used slingshots to fire rocks and lug nuts at law enforcement officers at the backwater bridge.

They set a truck on fire and used it to try and block a railway.

Law enforcement spouses were targeted with threats of rape and murder.

If law enforcement, and the security personnel hired to protect the pipeline, were treating the protesters like an “ideologically driven insurgency,” maybe that’s because they were behaving like an ideologically driven insurgency.

The left’s very powerful, very effective propaganda machine has been working to white wash the reality of the #NoDAPL protests. They lead the mainstream press by the nose to their preferred narrative, one portraying law enforcement and pipeline security as a bunch of cruel bullies who abused peaceful protesters.

But anyone who paid attention to the protests know they weren’t peaceful. They were violent. They were unlawful. Those extremists terrorized our state for months on end in pursuit of a political objective which ultimately failed.

I wish law enforcement hadn’t used some of the tactics they did, but they had no choice. The protesters themselves made it necessary.

UPDATE: The Morton County Sheriff’s Department provided me with this statement:

In order to ensure the safety of everyone, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department did maintain communication with TigerSwan security in order to understand when and where DAPL construction activities were taking place. This gave law enforcement situational awareness in order to monitor and respond to illegal protest activity. Equally, law enforcement and other elected leaders maintained communication with tribal leaders and camp headsmen. It was a little more difficult to communicate with camp leadership as there was no rule of law within the camp, but tribal leadership and elders were met with repeatedly throughout the protest, and our forward commanders on the front line often worked to develop communication with camp leadership. Maintaining situational awareness on both sides is important practice for law enforcement in order to keep everyone safe.

TigerSwan was responsible for security on DAPL property and law enforcement was responsible for the safety on public roadways and Corps land. MCSD would also respond to calls from security or private citizens on private land if there were threats to construction workers’ or public safety.

The information MCSD received from TigerSwan was used to understand their internal security measures that would affect law enforcement efforts.

As far as having a liaison from TigerSwan, again, it is not uncommon for law enforcement to communicate with security to understand any unfolding situations. It is why we also had Scott Davis from the governor’s cabinet as a liaison between the tribe/camp headsmen and local and state protest responders. Law enforcement was responsible for protecting the public on both sides of the pipeline issue while upholding the law.