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Officers from outside states are on standby to assist the policing of the ongoing protests against the North Dakota Access Pipeline project, police officials said Thursday.
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“There’s a lot of expertise out there across this nation with the sheriffs, and if they can in somehow bring their expertise and their resources here to assist the sheriff, that’s what we need to do,” said Danny Glick, Laramie County Sheriff, Western States Sheriffs’ Association President in the joint press conference. “When we get a call from Sheriff Kirchmeier, we will be ready to assist.”
Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier made the request to the National Sheriffs’ Association for assistance after a request for federal reinforcements was rejected. Kirchmeier is attempting to take a more direct approach to handling the swelling number of “water protectors,” who say that the pipeline will ruin sacred burial grounds and pollute local water supplies.
Kirchmeier stated that the new approach would include more patrols and sending officers to speak to local farmers fearful of protesters trespassing on their property. Kirchmeier stated that he would continue blocking roads to construction sites if protesters intended to halt construction.
The county sheriff estimated that the Sacred Stone Camp had 2,000 to 2,500 people living on the site, saying that his force has reached its capacity to be able to control the protests.
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“The protest has grown outside I think of what the intentions of the Standing Rock people wanted to occur. This was all about the water, and the pipeline, and the easement going to the core, not a pipeline being put out in the middle of the prairie,” he said.
Nearly a thousand Native American youth from the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe are undertaking a fundraiser to join their elders in the protests which have been described as the largest Native American mobilizations in decades.
Police and private security personnel have been more aggressively cracking down on the peaceful protests of late.
Last week North Dakota police armed with shotguns, assault rifles and armored vehicles broke up a group of Native Americans gathered in prayer. Witnesses filmed the crackdown but said their access to Facebook was blocked. Up to 21 people were arrested according to Unicorn Riot.
Unleashed attack dogs bit protesters, including a pregnant woman and child from contracted private security film Frost Kennels during a nonviolent direct action.
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