Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency Monday in anticipation of possible unrest in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson ahead of a grand jury decision in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer three months ago.
“Regardless of the outcomes of the federal and state criminal investigations, there is the possibility of expanded unrest,” Nixon said in a statement. “The state of Missouri will be prepared to appropriately respond to any reaction to these announcements.”
Later, in a conference call with reporters, Nixon said he was hopeful there will be no violence regarding the grand jury’s announcement on whether to charge the police officer who shot Michael Brown on Aug. 9.
“My hope and expectation in the coming weeks is that peace will prevail, but we have the responsibility to plan for any eventuality that may arise,” he said. “We have to keep the public safe while allowing citizens to exercise their rights.”
Nixon also said he will announce on Tuesday his appointments to a special commission that will further explore the issues raised by the Ferguson situation.
Nixon, who was criticized for seemingly being aloof in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, emphasized Monday that his emergency declaration was precautionary.
“I don’t spend a tremendous amount of time personalizing this,” he said. “I’m trying to make sure we move forward in a predictable, peaceful manner.”
In his emergency order, Nixon directed the Missouri Highway Patrol, St. Louis County Police Department and St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department to “operate as a Unified Command to protect civil rights” and put the St. Louis County Police Department in charge of security in Ferguson related to protest areas and demonstrations.
The Ferguson Police Department will be responsible for ordinary police matters in Ferguson but will not be in command in protest areas, Nixon said. He declined to provide other operational details except to say the National Guard will play a supportive role for the unified police command.
St. Louis Metropolitan Police Chief Sam Dotson echoed that in a statement.
“Having the support of the National Guard available will enable local officers to continue to respond promptly to calls for service,” he said.
The St. Louis County prosecutor has said publicly that an announcement of the grand jury’s decision will be made this month. The U.S. Department of Justice, which is conducting both civil and criminal investigations of Brown’s death, has not announced when its investigations will be concluded.
Channing Ansley, communications director for the governor, said the timing of the order is simply “the next step in ongoing efforts to plan and be prepared for any contingency, and that means making sure these resources are in place in advance of any announcement.”
The state of emergency will expire in 30 days unless Nixon extends it.
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said Monday that he supports Nixon’s decision to activate the Guard. He said the Guard “will be used in a secondary role” and could potentially be stationed at places such as shopping centers and government buildings.
“The way we view this, the Guard is not going to be confronting the protesters and will not be on (the) front line interacting directly with demonstrators,” Slay said.
Pre-emptive deployment of the National Guard is fairly unusual. In 2004, Georgia Gov. Sonny Purdue called out the Guard ahead of a Group of Eight economic summit out of fears of violent protests. Nixon said he twice has declared an emergency and deployed the National Guard in advance of expected severe weather.
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