More of This Please: Rally Planned to Honor Law Enforcement Personnel Responding to #NoDAPL Protests
Larimie County (Wyo.) Sheriff Danny Glick, left, answers questions during a press conference at the Morton County Courthouse in Mandan on Thursday, 10-6-2016. Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, back far left, has requested support from the National Sheriffs Association if needed during the continuing Dakota Access Pipeline protests. Also attending the press conference were, from left, Burleigh County Sheriff Pat Heinert, Bismarck Police Chief Dan Donlin, Stutsman County Sheriff Chad Kaiser and Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney. 10-6-2016
This afternoon at 2:15pm there is a rally scheduled in Mandan to honor the men and women of law enforcement who have responded to the #NoDAPL protests.
Here are the details from the event’s Facebook page:
This isn’t about supporting or opposing the pipeline. As the event organizers wrote in the description: “We are going to be getting people together to stand with law enforcement while they are protecting the pipeline workers. Pro pipeline or not, these officers are putting their lives on the line everyday and it seems like there are a lot of people who want to help but don’t know how.”
Maybe some folks from the #NoDAPL camp could show up for a little bit of solidarity on something we should all agree on.
Meanwhile, it seems North Dakota’s law enforcement agencies will be getting an assist from their colleagues in other states around the nation. The National Sheriff’s Association will apparently be coordinating an influx of personnel from other states to assist with the protests on the ground here in North Dakota:
MANDAN, N.D. – As Dakota Access Pipeline opponents fanned out and stopped construction at multiple sites again Thursday, Oct. 6, the Morton County sheriff said he has assigned more resources to the area and will call in deputies from other states if necessary to respond to simultaneous protests.
“We have basically tapped the resources to a level that we’ve never seen here in North Dakota for one particular incident,” Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said at a press conference in Mandan.
Laramie County (Wyo.) Sheriff Danny Glick, the current president of the 15-state Western States Sheriffs’ Association and past president of the National Sheriffs’ Association, pledged the groups’ support. He said Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney from Fargo, an NSA board member serving as Kirchmeier’s chief of operations, reached out to him for assistance.
“When we get a call from Sheriff Kirchmeier, we will be ready to respond and assist where we are able,” said Glick, who has been assessing the situation in Morton County since Tuesday.
This is good news. We all want people to be able to exercise their first amendment right, but they shouldn’t be allowed to do so in a manner that threatens public safety or inconveniences the right of other citizens to go about their business peacefully.
I’ve reached out to the folks at Morton County to find out if there is a way for the public to make donations in support of the law enforcement folks responding to the protests. A lot of them are far from home and working some serious overtime hours. I’m hoping there is maybe something the public can do to make them a little more comfortable while they do a tough, tough job.
