US mayors demand stop to federal policing with 'no oversight' in Portland
Fifteen mayors of major US cities have sent a letter to US federal law enforcement officials demanding a stop to the sending of federal forces to cities and the removal of federal officers from Portland, Oregon.
In their letter, the mayors say that the federal officers are conducting law enforcement activity with no consultation with local police in tactics they likened to “authoritarian regimes” not in the US.
The mayors of Seattle, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Washington DC and a handful of other cities signed the letter addressed to the attorney general, William Barr, and the Department of Homeland Security acting secretary, Chad Wolf.
“Federal officers have not been trained for urban community policing, including critical crowd management and de-escalation techniques. There is no oversight of the actions of federal forces,” they wrote.
Federal law enforcement, often in unmarked uniforms and vehicles, have been deployed against protesters in Portland since the beginning of the month. The protests in Portland began in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd at the end of May.
The officers have been using teargas, stun grenades and munitions to control crowds descending on to federal buildings in Oregon’s largest city. Federal officials say the protesters have been violent despite multiple reports that the demonstrations have largely been peaceful.
The letter from mayors comes ahead of an expected press conference later Wednesday by Donald Trump, who has said he could widen the use of federal forces in further cities, including Chicago.
A Department of Justice press release from earlier this month said Operation Legend is a “sustained, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative” meant to “fight the sudden surge of violent crime”.
On Tuesday night, a crowd of protesters gathered outside of federal buildings in downtown Portland. Over a thousand people were at the protest, including groups like the “Wall of Moms” that have gone viral for their confrontations with federal law enforcement, according to the Oregonian, a local newspaper in Oregon.
Though officers eventually used gas and stun grenades against the groups that were gathering outside the court building, as they have for many nights this month, people have been motivated to join the protests because the response from federal law enforcement has been so harsh.
Related: 'I wanted to take action': behind the 'Wall of Moms' protecting Portland's protesters
“The more bodies that are down here, the better chance that we can send a message that this isn’t an effective tactic,” Laura John, a protester, told the Oregonian on Tuesday.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Wolf defended the use of federal forces in Portland, often calling the protesters “violent” and criticizing local government officials for not taking action to protect federal buildings. Wolf referred to reports about the federal officers as “smear attacks”.
Local officials in Portland say that federal officers were working in coordination with local law enforcement at the beginning of the month but denied any coordination between the two in the last few weeks.
“The federal police have their marching orders on how they’re going to do things,” Daryl Turner, president of Portland’s police union, told NPR. “And that coordination was not made with Portland police.”
In the aftermath of the protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd, Trump has appeared to want to build his “law and order’ credentials by confronting protesters, his critics say. Some have said that sending unmarked law enforcement to Portland is an example of “made-for-TV fascism” and “performative authoritarianism”.
The mayors in their letter echoed criticism against Donald Trump that the deployment of officers is purely “for political purposes”.
“The president and his administration continually attack local leadership and amplify false and divisive rhetoric purely for campaign fodder,” they wrote.
Wolf said yesterday that federal law enforcement have not been deployed in other cities besides Portland, but Trump promised on Monday that more officers would be sent to cities.
