One week out from the Derek Chauvin murder trial, multiple public safety officials say they’re confident with their plan to prevent the potential for crime and property damage.
Besides the layers of fences and barbed wire surrounding downtown Minneapolis government buildings, law enforcement officials remain tight-lipped about specifics of the 8-month long Operation Safety Net, saying it’s dependent on coordination and intelligence that’s too sensitive to reveal in detail. Agencies have been training with tabletop exercises to emulate events.
“We’ll try to be as kind as we can be and sympathetic to the trauma some people feel,” Hennepin County Sheriff Dave Hutchinson said. “But don’t mistake our kindness for weakness. We are as prepared as any city in America could be and we are prepared as we can be to quell violence and destruction.”
We know the sheriff’s office is leading the court security and up to 3,000 National Guard members will be deployed, but the overall plan involving federal, state, and local response was called “complex, dynamic and evolving.” Special Agent in Charge Michael Paul with the FBI said all 56 field offices nationwide will be sharing relevant intelligence.
“Threats can transition from aspirational to operational very quickly,” Paul said. “And our job will be to sift through the threatening communications to determine which are indicators of an escalation toward criminal activity or violence. If and when the threats cross this threshold FBI Minneapolis will work hard with our partners...to disrupt and mitigate them before violence occurs.”
Residents of South Minneapolis have painful memories of the weeks after George Floyd died: constant helicopter noise, strange cars with their license plates removed driving through their neighborhoods, and being told by police to look for suspicious packages in their own backyards. Protest organizers and some Minneapolis city council members have expressed concern that such a large presence is over the top and could actually escalate tensions.
“To those of you who have been concerned or expressed concern about the incredible preventive posture and the resources that will be deployed, we hear you,” State Patrol Chief Colonel Matt Langer said. “We hear you and we understand your concern, but at the same time we just ask that you remember what it was like in May and June. Remember the property destruction. Remember the violence. Remember the challenges that prevented people from coming and expressing their First Amendment rights.”
Hutchinson said everyone will be watching what unfolds in the courtroom.
“We want this to be peaceful,” he said. “Everybody up here wants peace. The way to get peace is to have justice. And the way to have justice is to have these trials go on with a peaceful resolution.”
