Midlands law enforcement prepared for Charlotte-type protest, vi - Live5News.com | Charleston, SC | News, Weather, Sports

As protests-turned-riots made national headlines in Charlotte, Midlands law enforcement organizations said they were ready for any future public demonstrations and prepared to head off any potential violence.

“As we've seen happen in Charlotte, these kinds of things can blow up very fast,” observed Lt. Dominic Pagano with the Richland County Sheriff’s office.  “This is about plans that we've had in place for a long time. The contingencies have been there. If the equipment is there. And the training has been there.”

Pagano said local agencies have worked with state agencies and municipalities within the country to be prepared to protect the rights of protesters to speak out while also protecting the community from vandalism and from any violence. 

"When it becomes violent, then we have to step it up a little bit,” he said. “We have a large contingents of officers that have been trained in conjunction
with the city of Columbia to be able to handle these types of events. That's when we actually have to break out the specialized equipment."

The State Law Enforcement Division, SLED, likewise declared law enforcement in South Carolina well prepared. SLED pointed to two racially charged incidents in 2015 that prompted protest but never metastasized into violence - the police shooting of Walter Scott in North Charleston and the killing of nine people by a self-professed white supremacist in the Charleston church shootings.

In an email message, SLED spokesman Thom Berry said, “in the Emanuel Nine and Walter Scott shootings, law enforcement at all levels worked together to not make arrests while striving to keep local communities informed.”

Social media, police widely agreed, has become a major component of protest, and sometimes unrest.  Pagano also warned about the influence of outside agitators not connected to local protest movements who he blamed for turning some peaceful protests violent. He also declared that such influence can be preempted or quashed by good connections between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

Social media, he said, also offers a valuable avenue for spotting and heading off such elements.

Also important, Pagano said, is quick response, versatility, and close communication. This is so law enforcement can distinguish between a protest that may require a token force to deal with traffic and a riot that calls for a large multi-agency force in full riot gear. 

“You are not going to know how large scale it can be until you are there, until you are actually there on the ground,” he said.  “These things can quickly swell, like you've seen in Charlotte and Ferguson and other places across the United States. You can put as many resources as you have there. It can be overwhelming, though.  They are very dynamic, they are constantly changing. You do your best. It's all you can do."

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