ROANOKE, Va. – Law enforcement members around the nation are revising their strategies for how to deal with political rallies after the events in Charlottesville. There have been protests in Roanoke the last few years, but the city hasn’t seen violent demonstrations.
The Roanoke Police Department says it’s analyzing the best ways to keep large crowds calm and has been doing so for years.
Capt. Rick Morrison said there’s a balance when trying to maintain control.
"When people bring violence to an event, there are no winners," he said. "Police are stuck in a corner to where if you do too much you get criticized, if you do too little you get criticized."
Morrison said it can be difficult to both prevent aggression and make sure demonstrators can exercise their free-speech rights. Just sorting out who belongs to which group and who’s doing what can be tough for police.
"In those split seconds of time, law enforcement has to decide who is here legally, who is not here lawfully, who’s throwing the rocks, who’s burning buildings," he said.
He said Roanoke officers go through de-escalation training, learning how to calm people down. But he says that doesn’t work with the people he calls “professional rioters”: people who want to commit violence.
"If they are hell-bent on getting to that area to cause harm and disruption, guess what, they will get there," he said.
City leaders like councilman John Garland say the path forward involves conversations.
"We’ve had a lot of good community discussions here of late where we’ve talked about racism," he said. "We’ve talked about poverty and I would like to continue those conversations.”
Morrison said those discussions should be about more than symbols.
"You can remove statues and you can remove books and names off buildings, but until you remove hate from your heart, this is what you’re going to have," he said.
Two Roanoke lieutenants were working with police in Charlottesville during the protests and their insights have influenced planning in the Star City, according to Morrison.