How Did Police From All Over the Country End Up at Standing Rock?

[douglas9]

When protests at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation began in April, there were only a handful of activists camping out in defiance of the Dakota Access Pipeline project. As their numbers have grown into the thousands, so too has the police presence confronting them. Police departments from 24 counties and 16 cities in 10 different states (including North Dakota) have poured into Standing Rock, according to the Morton County Sheriff's Department, the local law enforcement agency.

It's rare for police forces to cross state lines to handle problems in neighboring places, much less travel more than 1,500 miles to respond to protests, as the St. Charles Parish (Louisiana) Sheriff's Department has. So why is Standing Rock teeming with cops from across the country? The answer lies in an obscure federal law that's usually deployed to help states deal with environmental disasters.

In 1996, then-President Bill Clinton signed the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC). The statute was created in response to Hurricane Andrew, which wrought an estimated $25 billion in damages when it hit Louisiana and Florida in 1992, necessitating large-scale, interstate relief coordination. EMAC, an agreement eventually entered into by all 50 states, allows for states to share resources and coordinate emergency personnel in case of a crisis. The good-neighbor style law was invoked for disaster relief for Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and, more recently, Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/12/standing-rock-police-militarized-emergency-management-assistance-compact-north-dakota

[Sunlei]

1. all the locals are having the time of their lives practice 'crowd control', mace, gas, flash bangs,

heavy duty zip 'handcuffs', chasing people with ATVs, thousands of rounds of rubber bullets.

They practice pushing around a small crowd until a police officer can claim someone touched them, stepped on their foot, fell on them, 'assaulted' an officer. Then an over-charged arrest, can't afford bail so sit in jail for a year if one wants a jury trial. 90% take a plea deal charge to get out of jail.

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[SHRED]

2. I fear what will happen after tRump takes office

I hope it is resolved before then.

[ancianita]

3. Their governor tools of globalists were following orders to support globalists.

[justhanginon]

4. This is beginning to look like the old Pinkerton Agency and

their brutal strikebreaking efforts on behalf of Andrew Carnegie in the late 1800s.

I fear for the future with the moron in chief and his henchmen using the (EMAC) to justify using similar tactics in various unwarranted situations. Nothing is beyond the pale for this group of ignorant misfits.

[Fla Dem]

5. The fu&king oil companies should pay for the policing expenses. Not the S. Dakota taxpayers.

Or the federal government.

Since the state issuing the EMAC request is on hook for the tab, that means North Dakota taxpayers will pay for the out-of-state officers at Standing Rock. This will include wages, overtime costs, meals, lodging, and mileage reimbursement. On November 2, North Dakota officials agreed to borrow $4 million to cover escalating policing costs and extend the state's line of credit for emergency law enforcement to $10 million. (The state was already staring down a $1 billion revenue shortfall in 2016.) Governor Jack Dalrymple said state officials have asked for contributions from the federal government, the pipeline company, "and any entity we can think of," though the federal government has thus far declined to pitch in. North Dakota Emergency Services spokesperson Cecily Fong told the Associated Press that total state law enforcement costs for the protests had reached $10.9 million as of November 22, while Morton County had spent an additional $8 million. Meanwhile, local courts and jails have struggled to process around 575 arrests.

I added the bold.

[Nitram]

6. It's the same movement that resulted in the standoff at Malheur.

Right wingers are trying to use the threat of armed force to further their ideology.