Portland’s self-inflicted agony continues but at least the rioters will be more comfortable.
Mayor Ted Wheeler has banned police from using CS tear gas to subdue the rioters. Apparently some innocent bystanders got a whiff or two of the stuff — tear gas is not a discriminating weapon — and the rioters objected to the use of the gas as well.
Ever accommodating, especially to the rioters, Wheeler told police they could no longer use the gas in crowd control.
“It’s time for everyone to reduce the violence in our community. We all want change. We all have the opportunity and obligation to create change,” said Wheeler in a Thursday press release. “That’s why, as Police Commissioner, effective immediately and until further notice, I am directing the Portland Police to end the use of CS gas for crowd control.”
Why should the rioters even want to “reduce the violence in our community?” They are trying to foment violence. They want violence. Wheeler is beyond belief.
Wheeler lives in a fantasy world. The rioters aren’t protesting anything. They only want to cause confusion and mayhem. And Wheeler has given them a gift by allowing them to cause disturbances without fear of being handicapped by tear gas.
The Portland Police Department is beside themselves.
“Banning the lawful use of CS will make it very difficult to address this kind of violence without resorting to much higher levels of physical force, with a correspondingly elevated risk of serious injury to members of the public and officers,” the statement reads. “CS, while effective, is a significantly lower level of force than impact weapons, which would very likely be necessary to disperse riotous groups with its prohibition.”
Next on the agenda is banning “impact weapons.” I guess the feeling is if you can’t defund the police, you can disarm them.
“Police need all kinds of tools and resources to effectively respond to violence perpetrated by groups of people,” the statement reads. “Lately, it seems more tools have been taken away than added. There has been mention of research into alternative methods that may prevent the need for greater force. No one has presented a solution of how officers can stop a rioting group who are threatening the lives of those present.”
Well, the solution offered by the protesters is simple: Let ’em riot.
In fact, the legislature convened task forces to look at this very issue. They came up with some interesting solutions — for the rioters.
Ideas, coming both from law enforcement experts and members of the public, have spanned from police officers not wearing armored riot gear during protests in order to de-escalate the situation or training officers on how to make individual arrests without indiscriminately gassing a crowd.
Another solution to quell these demonstrations? Respond to the protester’s demands.
How would police officers leaving themselves wide open to injury or death from rocks, bricks, or slabs of concrete “de-escalate” the situation? Maybe the rioters would prefer a simple crucifixion of some officers.
It’s quite simple; no riots, no tear gas. Is that too hard for people to comprehend? Apparently so.
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