Captain ron johnson8/27/2023 “Last night was a great night,” he recalled. On Thursday night, Johnson and other officials marched with the protesters and, in his words, they “walked and shook hands and talked to people and listened and promised that we’re going to communicate better.” “When eating meals, troopers must patronize the businesses in the area and not congregate at the Ferguson Police Department,” the lieutenant wrote.Īnother officer redistributed the email with a note atop, stating: “The Patrol cannot force you to eat lunch with your own money,” and thanking those who attended a lunch hosted by the wives’ of Ferguson police officers.Missouri Gov.: 'We've all got work to do' In late August, a lieutenant for the highway patrol sent an email to officers in the St Louis region detailing their shifts for patrolling Ferguson, with a requirement “to be seen by the public”. Replogle, the highway patrol’s top officer, responded by offering to pay for the shirts himself, if necessary.Īt other times, officers appeared to bristle at some of the expectations for interacting with residents. He suggested pastors could wear brightly coloured T-shirts with the word “CLERGY” on front and back. One officer, acknowledging he was going outside the chain of command, pleaded in an email to supervisors to tell rank and file officers that clergy intermingling among protesters were trying to help and should be treated accordingly. Johnson told her the problem would be corrected within that week. She complained that she was having difficulty going back and forth to her job because of protests and police blockades. Johnson, for example, received an email from a woman who lived in the apartment complex near where Brown was shot. The emails show that patrol officers occasionally took personal steps to try to ease tensions or problems. “He has single handedly destroyed the reputation of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.” “The actions of Cpt Johnson have infuriated me,” retired patrol officer Mike Watson wrote to Replogle. “Your agency and captain Johnson are making troopers all over the country proud,” Minnesota state patrol Lt Col Matt Langer wrote to Missouri State Highway Patrol Col Ron Replogle.īut other current and retired law enforcement officers sharply criticised the highway patrol, asserting that Johnson’s apology and actions implied Wilson was guilty of a crime without the benefit of a trial. Johnson and his supervisors received numerous emails and phone calls complimenting his demeanour from law officers across Missouri and the country. He talked and marched with protesters, posed with them for photos and spoke to loud applause at a rally where he apologised to Brown’s family and described his relationship with his own son who wears sagging pants and has tattoos. After a night of riots and looting, police in subsequent days approached protesters in armoured vehicles and used teargas after some demonstrators threw rocks or Molotov cocktails.Ĭaptain Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol, who is black, was put in charge by Governor Jay Nixon to try to restore calm. The shooting stirred long-simmering racial tensions in the predominantly black St Louis suburb where the police force is composed almost entirely of white officers. Wilson has told authorities that he realised after initially encountering Brown that he matched the description of a suspect in a convenience store robbery that occurred just minutes earlier, according to reports in the St Louis Post-Dispatch that cited unnamed sources. But anticipation has been mounting because St Louis county prosecutor Bob McCulloch has said previously that he expects a decision by mid-to-late November.Īs early as Labor Day weekend, police were already discussing the need to develop a well-coordinated plan for a potential surge in protests when the grand jury decision is announced.īrown, who was unarmed, was shot after some sort of confrontation with Wilson, who had ordered Brown and a friend to quit walking down the centre of a street. There is no specific date for a grand jury decision to be announced on whether to charge Wilson. The records also illustrate one of the many challenges authorities could face if new protests develop – how to walk a fine line between providing public empathy and security. The messages offer a small window into the inner workings of Missouri law-enforcement agencies as they tried to quell the tensions that arose following the fatal shooting of the black 18-year-old by white police officer Darren Wilson.
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