Police brace for potential Election Day unrest in a year when 'everything is uncertain'
Police brace for potential Election Day unrest in a year when ‘everything is uncertain’
As campaign season heads into its fraught, final days, police departments across the country are bracing for Election Day, mobilizing officers as they prepare for the possibility of voter intimidation, unrest or violence.
These preparations include extensive planning exercises, efforts to monitor early-voting sites and concerns about how long any unrest could last if the election results are not immediately known or challenged in court.
While law enforcement agencies routinely plan for elections, officials say this year’s preparations are unusually extensive because of the sheer levels of anxiety and toxicity across the country — with fears that a modern American election could give way to potential violence.
“I don’t think we’ve seen anything like this in modern times,” said Andrew Walsh, a deputy chief with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Shouting matches, partisan rallies, guns at polling places: Tensions high at early-voting sites
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“When you look at previous elections, there’s always been the concern when you have large crowds .?.?. we know [that] can be a target for someone who has an agenda,” Walsh, who runs the Las Vegas police’s homeland security division, said in an interview. The difference, he said, is the “magnitude” of the election and the weight people are attaching to it.
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“We just don’t know how long this is going to take, or what this is going to look like, once this is over .?.?. and no matter who wins, somebody’s not going to be happy,” Walsh said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/police-brace-for-potential-election-day-unrest-in-a-year-when-everything-is-uncertain/2020/10/24/e30dc34a-1554-11eb-ad6f-36c93e6e94fb_story.html
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