US Police act tougher as race tensions rise

Protesters march after a gathering in Loring Park held by Black Lives Matter in Minneapolis. Photo / AP

In the wake of protests in Ferguson, Missouri, where authorities were criticised for heavy-handed tactics against demonstrators after the police shooting of black teen Michael Brown, many police departments took a more restrained approach.
Now, after the shooting deaths of five officers at a Dallas protest decrying last week's police killings of two more black men, some experts are suggesting the pendulum could be swinging from hugs back to flash-bang grenades and mass arrests.
Over the past two days, authorities made more than 160 arrests in Louisiana's capital, Baton Rouge, during protests over killings by police, with only one reported injury among the ranks when an officer was hit by a projectile.
Police in riot gear kept protesters from entering Interstate 110 in Baton Rouge yesterday, thwarting a tactic activists have attempted around the country in the aftermath of the killings of Alton Sterling, 37, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Philando Castile, 32, in St Paul, Minnesota.

More than a thousand demonstrators left a Black Lives Matter rally in Memphis, Tennessee, and occupied a Mississippi River bridge yesterday, temporarily halting traffic on Interstate 40. And hundreds walked onto I-264 in Portsmouth, Virginia, marooning motorists for hours.
In St Paul on Sunday, officers in riot gear met protesters who blocked Interstate 94 in the biggest confrontation between police and demonstrators since an officer fatally shot Castile during a suburban Twin Cities traffic stop last week. About 100 people were arrested. Twenty-one law enforcement officers were hurt during the protests, including six state troopers. Police Chief Todd Axtell called the pelting of officers with rocks, bottles, firecrackers and other objects "a disgrace". Police used smoke bombs to clear the crowd of more than 200 people blocking the interstate.
And there are those who believe police will have to take extra precautions after the five police officers were killed and seven wounded when a gunman opened fire on a protest march in Dallas on Friday.
Craig Lally, president of the union representing Los Angeles police officers, said he suspects changes will be made at departments across the country when it comes to staffing protests and similar events.
"I think they're going to have to be much more aware of their surroundings. The next march in Dallas, I guarantee they're going to have sniper teams all along the march, cops with high-powered rifles, to see if anyone is going to be a copycat," Lally said.
Former FBI agent James Wedick envisions departments having officers stake out high areas with binoculars and possibly sniper rifles, but keeping them out of sight to avoid causing panic.
"It's not just to defend the cops, it's also to defend the protesters," said Wedick, who was with the FBI for 35 years.
Authorities are investigating whether Micah Johnson, the Dallas gunman, was directed by black militant groups who were calling for revenge or merely emboldened by them.
"I think it's safe to say we'll leave no stone unturned," Dallas Deputy Police Chief Scott Walton said.
Although Johnson was connected to several militant groups on social media, it's unclear if he was merely a follower or an active participant.