Draw up support for his immigration plan. But hes expected to address the situation in ferguson as well. When we see the president well take to you chicago. Lets bring in diane estherbro estherbrook. She joins us live from ferguson, missouri. You were living as i was to the News Conference a while ago from the governor of missouri, jay nixon. Harsh, shrill in his town, talking about an increased presence on the streets of ferguson tonight. Last night there were 700 National Guardsmen on the streets. Monitoring and protecting infrastructure. That number is going to increase dramatically to 2200. I dont know what kind of mix of military forces we might be august talking about. That might be an issue to watch later in the evening. And the governor was asked about the plan we had been discussing throughout the day. Which was the plan to protect businesses there in ferguson. Thats what you were told by Business Owners as to the plan for the National Guard. But apparently that plan changed. Yes, and i dont know what happened between the planning and then what transpired last night. But clearly there was a problem. Clearly the people along florissant avenue did not feel like they were protected. You talk about the 1500 additional troops to what we had last night coming in. Theyve already arrived. We saw the buses coming in. Im about a block half down from the fire and Police Departments and there is right now about 200 guardsmen assembled there right now. So they have shields. They have batons. And these are the socalled rapid responders that you alluded to. Theyre ready to deploy at a moments notice. If there is problem tonight presumably people will be ready to react. It was a question that was also asked of the News Conference of the governor whether or not there was real consideration to shutting down west florissant avenue. Have you heard any discussions along those lines . I wonder if it was even raised as a topic of discussion among the Business Owners you had a conversation with becausei think i may be a bit more worried tonight. Yeah, i dont know if that was actually raised by businesses. Obviously they shut the road down today. It was considered a crime scene today so nobody could get down there today. Ive not been down there. I would tell you since noon and 1 00 when we were standing there doing some shooting there some Police Officers there. They said that the road was supposed to be opened later today, sometime this afternoon. Again, i have not been down there, so i dont know if its been open. There are still real concerns. Concerns among the businesses here on south florissant and as you mentioned, on west florissant. I think everyone is hopeful. Weve seen Additional Police present, additional National Guardsmen here. There is hope that they could quash anything that could arides this evening. Hopefully that wont happen, but who knows. An additional militarized force can bring its own problems with it. Diane, i want you to listen to someone speaking about last nights violence. Last night criminals intent on lawlessness and destruction terrorized this community, burning buildings, firing gunshots, vandalizing store fronts, and looting family businesses, many for the second time. Im deeply saddened for the people of ferguson who awoke to see parts of their community in ruins. Diane, once again. Share with everyone now, part of the conversation or several conversations you were having with store owners, Business Owners from earlier in the day who were greatly disappointed, to say the least, with the response o and work of Law Enforcement. They thought there was a better plan in place to protect their businesses. Thats right. The governor talked about that for several days before the announcement was made last night. He said his priority was to protect the businesses and property here in ferguson. Everybody thought there was a cogent plan in place, to have a fairly strong presence, a Law Enforcement presence to protect these businesses and clearly that didnt happen. Some of the businesses behind me said that they did not board up last night because they assumed that there was going to be that protection there, and there wasnt. Now, i dont know what may have happened was maybe they thought there was going to be peaceful protest. It wouldnt happen, but it did. Diane, i appreciate it. Diane estherbrook, thank you. Lets go to th the press conference we promised. You there are 300 Police Officers combined. We did have between glen owen between chambers and the back of canfield apartments were treating and investigating a homicide. We did make a good arrest. The county police in jennings made an arrest regarding an individual who had quite a fewtwo individuals had quite a few auto parts in their car. So at least some folks had been arrested regarding some of the looting were dealing with. On west florissant they talked to businesses and residents documenting the damage that we werent aware of, and making sure they got their police reports. We had assistance in bomb and arson regarding the fires, and we did have 21 fires last night. One thing i would like to tell you before i introduce you to Kevin Johnson we answered questionsyou know, the law of averages is going to catch up to us eventually regarding this. This is what really bothers me and other commanders. We can only go so far before, again, simple math will tell you before we sustain loss of life. I hope we can get through this up coming evening without up coming issues. I hope that we have peaceful protests and i hope that everyone can enjoy their First Amendment rights and we dont see the criminal activity were last night. Good evening, early on i apologized to mike brown sr. For the loss of his son. I said that i was sorry. Today i say im sorry to the community of ferguson, the soul of their community was ripped and torn last night. That cannot happen. That is not fair to this community or this nation. Tonight well do everything we can to make sure that that does not happen and repeat itself. We have to make sure that this stops, the law of averages. We dont want anybody seriously hurt or no one injured. As you know ive been led by faith throughout this. Last night i said that the voice of the clergy was not being followed. Its not that that voice was not attempting to be spoken. The problem was not listening. We have to listen to the voice of reason and the voice of our faith, and those things that drive us to be better. We will continue to make sure that this community is safe, the property is safe, and the rights and the freedom that we have are maintained. So well open ourselves up to the questions that we have. Inaudible question. I can tell you that men and women of Law Enforcement did an outstanding job. Like i always say we look at every day as a new day and we adjust the operational plans. [ inaudible question ] i think the governor spoke and said there were 700 guardsmen out. We had them in the places that we thought would be appropriate. Last night the riots, and those who are stuck on violence did some things to our community that we all couldnt have woke up and imagined. Chief s that homicide relat ed to friday . At this point, i certainly couldnt discount that. I would imagine that there is some sort of a nexus between that. I cant comment yet regarding cause of death or manner of death or anything like that. I just dont know those things. I think Somebody Just talked about the word mistakes from last night. I think like Kevin Johnson said, im not sure that there were mistakes. These officers work tremendously hard under a very difficult situation to exercise a lot of restraint and try to keep everybody safe. Again, i would like to underscore the fact that there are certain folks out there, and unfortunatel unfortunately fortunately, its a small fraction, but there are certain folks who want to cause a lot of problems and they can impact at times. [ inaudible question ] our guys who wear badges will be able to do the jobs that they need to do, have the frontline interaction with folks and be able to react more effectively to different dynamics. We had a situation where seven, eight, nine blocks, and last night was over foursquare miles. So there is more of a challenge when that happens. You know, it is frustrating because i feel like that certain individuals take advantage of not only the Business Owners, for example, but theyre taking advantage of the community, and in many ways of mr. Browns life and legacy. This almost has to turn into something good. Otherwise, an 18yearold man lost his life for nothing. I think it cheapens it when we look at the criminal activity going on. A lot of our residents called us. They woke up in tears this morning. They woke up and were heartbroken. Weve heard this community in ways that its going to take a long time to heal. Gentlemen, could you talk a little bit about deployment of the National Guard . Not trying to get any tactical information but in st. Louis theyre pulling guards in small pockets in a number of areas against looting. Do you have plans laid out for use of the guard . And to whom do the guard answer . Do e whwho do they take orders from . We wont caulk about our operational approach. But the guard will be used as a resource. Were working with the guard commandeers on deployment of those. And well communicate with the guard. Do they fall under unified command control . They will fall under unified command once theyre deployed. [ inaudible question ] i think if we saw what was last night, if you did not see the pain in our faces and the pain in our voices, you know that we did not let that happen. You saw the Law Enforcement officers who stood out there last night, and saw the disagreement and despair in their voices and in their face. We did not let that happen. Once again this is a community that i live in. This is a community that the chief grew up in. No, we did not let that happen. Well do everything we can tonight to make sure that that does not continue. We have three more questions. Listen, we had information, and weve seen in the past that Ferguson Police station mass been a target. Its been the new ground zero in many ways. We can anticipate pretty easily that were going to have some issues there. I think its difficult then to take a guess on where else we might have problems, for example. So i was a little bit surprised with the issues on west florissant road. We had a plan for that, but i think part of what were talking about here, we talk aboutdid we let things happen . Certainly not, but please keep in mind that at certain times there is not a lot we can do about any given thing other than trying to maintain. Thats where a lot of trouble was in august. Is it predicted that it will be ground zero again . Well, we had problems in august there and weve had problems on florissant road. Its difficult to manage here at west florissant based on the lay of the land. I appreciate your question. I understand, but i assure you that these guys were doing the very best that they possibly could. Can you address the fire response . Was there any time or window when fire trucks were ordered not to go in there, and what would that window so what happened is when they were down at the Public Stores lot they were fighting that fire, but then they had to back off because of gunfire at this point. I would imagine that that really wasnt a command necessarily that happened. These things kind of occur. They pull out, and then after that the commanders on the ground, here on west florissant, they realize that they could maintain west floore florissant to maintain and then theyre able to move to the north. And the protocol and secure the scene . That really is standard protocol. Typically the fire service wont come in to any of our scenes until its 100 secure. Those are things that are challenges of ours. Were promising to clean this up every bit of the way. We should note that the Fire Department showed great bravery going in to those areas where there are gunfire. Weve been listening to a News Conference, and there is the president is due soon, but weve been listening to john balmer, the police chief of st. Louis county, and captain ron johnson of the Missouri State police. Lets get back to diane estherbrook, and she joins us now from ferguson, missouri. Diane, weve been trying to figure out the rules of engagement for the National Guard. So you know, walk us through the increased deployment well see this evening, and then well talk about the rules of engagement. Well, what we saw last night were 700 guardsmen and they were protecting 100 vital facilities or it sounds like they were protecting infrastructure like the police department. What were seeing tonight is double that or more than double that. An additional 1500 or 2200 guardsmen. Theyring there to be Rapid Response team. Theyre going to be able to go immediately where there is a problem. If there is looting going on or presumably if there is protest that turns violent, theyll be able to go immediately and be deployed. Which is different from plasmati night. Last night it appeared it was local Law Enforcement handling that. Well have additional troops on the ground this evening to handle any other events that might come up like looting, violence or like what we saw on south and west florissant avenue. Thats where i want to jump in with you. And so what happens if the National Guard gets the call saying, hey, look, go to the chuckecheese or Little Caesars or walgreens. What are the rules of engag engagement . The natural guard rule of engagement. The first level here is simply presence. Thats the idea of just the sheer presence of the National Guard being used as a deterrent. And thats something that you were alluding to just moments ago. That presence in terms of actual numbers would increase, correct . That is correct. Now, what theyre able to do beyond that, im not 100 i got your back on that. We go from 700 last night to 2200 tonight. This is why weve done this, because we want to know what will the National Guard actually do if there is a repeat of last night. So the first level of engagement is simply to be there. To be a presence. The second level of engagement is to move people along, to disperse crowds that are behaving in an unruly way using bear hands. So thats the second level of engagement. The third level of engagement is the use of the introduction of the use of nonlethal means. I dont know what that means, is that mace, tear gas. And then there are rigid force. There is a chain of events and then penalties for National Guardsmen who break that sequence. So that as we know right now based on our research is the chain of events, National Guards, rules of engagement in a situation that is live and active right now on the ground there in ferguson. I just want to walk you through it. Thanks for being there and playing along. Thanks for the primer. All right, diane, appreciate it. Thank you for your time. Well take a break and come back for more of our coverage from ferguson and beyond here on al jazeera america. Were back in a moment. Its a chilling and draconian sentence. It simply cannot stand. This trial was a sham. They are truth seekers. All they really wanna do is find out whats happening, so they can tell people. Governments around the world all united to condemn this. As you can see, its still a very much volatile situation. The government is prepared to carry out mass array. If you want free press in the new democracy, let the journalists live. Welcome back to al jazeera. Lets take a look now. This is a live shot from chicago, illinois ill. The president is scheduled to speak any moment now. This was planned as an immigration event where the president was going speaking on plans, and action on immigration. We anticipate that the president will make remarks at the top of those immigration remarks about the i dont know going situation in ferguson, missouri. Were going to continue to watch the situation, and when we see the president well go to him in anticipation that the president will make remarks about the situation in ferguson. Right now lets get you to adam schauffler in seattle where protesters spent a good portion of the afternoon rallying in support in solidarity with the people of ferguson, alan . Quite the crowd gathering in the downtown area. I got to tell you a nasty, rai rainy, classically seattle day, and it didnt keep the crowd down at all. 300 to 400 people who marched a milemile and a half from a church in seattles predominan predominantly africanamerican neighborhood to the loop downtown where the protest last night and then ended up in the federal courthouse. Speaker after speaker t exhorting the crowd to stay alert and push for change. Quite a revolutionary vibe. People calling for the destruction of the system. People calling for the dismantling of capitalism itself, people saying to push forward and reform Police Departments and the justice system. Again, 300 to 400 people very engaged, very energic crowd, and they were on it for on the issue, and on the streets for two and a half hours today. It was loud and angry but mostly peaceful protests in dozens of cities. There has been a lot of criticism of how ferguson prosecutor handled the decision not to indict. It is good to see you again. Its been awhile. You, too, tony. A pleasure. I have to ask you, anything surprise you . Is it what you suspected . Im talking about the presentation last night from the county prosecutor. Well, i would say that there has been lots of talk of whether there would be an indictment or not. Im not surprised that there was not an indictment. Here in st. Louis and across the country there is this generality that we support officers no matter what the facts or circumstances may display, and there is this kind of brotherhood, this code that continues to be upheld. Now some things that im surprised about, about last night was the timing of the announcement of the grand jury. From a political standpoint the officers ran from 8 30 to 5 00. So to hold a press conference under the cover of dark i think presented a lot of safety issues. It was a secret process. No one knew in it was going to be a true bill or not but for the prosecutor. When you are an elected official you are an elected official for the entire county and you have to keep everyone in mind. Not just the victim and victims family, but the defendant and the defendants family. And not just in ferguson but the greater st. Louis area. We hear all the time that prosecutors can indict a ham sandwich. It seems that a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich except in cases where police are involved. Why is that . Well, you have to understand that in the grand jury process, so to speak, you only get testimony. One side. Only evidence that the prosecutor presents. So what happens is that the prosecutor controls that narrative. To indict a ham sandwich, then you pick through and represent what you want to be represented to insure that an indictment moves forward. It may not be what you say, but also how you say it. So just imagine, you know, in a narrative setting that you control, and you spin a storytype telling of what happened, it complicates the issues. You complicate that with the fact that you dont suggest a particular charge, but you give them a buffet of charges to choose from. The average layperson, it complicates the process. And further complicates it because its a secretive process. Should a special prosecutor have handled this whole process . I think in this particular case because of the history that we have here in st. Louis, and because u because of the National Attention that was adamant from the beginning, and because nationwide when you look at ohio, new york, and i mean, we have such a system where the community is so distrustful, i think that while the police and the prosecution as top police are great at policing the community most times, i dont know that theyre so effective at policing one another. And so a set of fresh eyes would provide a great opportunity. Leslie, i appreciate it. Good to see you. From ferguson. You, too. Pleasure, pleasure. Well take a break and come back at the top of the hour with a complete wrap up of the days news. Stay with us. Again, this is al jazeera america. It really, really looks bad. Ferguson residents survey the damage after a nights of violence. Business owners push police in the governor to do more. Police presence will be ramped up significantly. Civil rights leaders call for peace, many worry the violence is not over. Thousands of pages of evidence and testimony released to the public, including Darren Wilson own account of the moment
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