Lessons from chaos: New report details Charleston police response to May 30 riots
It’s been more than four months since a violent night of civil unrest erupted in downtown Charleston during the last weekend in May, plunging the heart of South Carolina’s oldest city into chaos.
In its aftermath, the first riot in more than a century left shattered glass in the streets of its downtown peninsula, stories of terrified diners diving for cover under restaurant tables and a set of looming questions from the community at-large.
What happened that night? How did this happen here? And were police ever told to stand down during the riots?
On Thursday, the Charleston Police Department released a 64-page report that began to provide some answers. Across the country that weekend, protests, both peaceful and destructive, were sparked following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, while he was in police custody in Minnesota.
Among the findings about what happened in Charleston:
- Authorities developed an insufficient plan with no contingency in place to respond to the protests, which turned violent and overwhelmed officers as day turned to night.
- Police had “no tangible intelligence” when they put together their incident plan for the protests that would eventually swell to thousands of people.
- At the height of the riots on May 30, between 8 p.m.-2 a.m., communication between groups of officers became limited when two radio channels were being used for calls related to the riots.
- Officers faced challenges getting information on what had happened as they began their shifts that night because there was no staging area where they could be briefed.
- Officers were being dispatched as soon as they became available because of the urgent need.
The document — known as an after-action report — outlines what happened from the perspective of law enforcement, detailing what unfolded nearly every hour as police responded to the protests and riots that weekend.
The report also included a series of policy recommendations that either should be made or have since been made as a direct result of lessons learned.
“We have embraced this opportunity to improve, to learn and to achieve the best outcomes possible,” Charleston Police Chief Luther Reynolds said as he addressed members of the city’s committee on public safety.
The police department and city council members requested the after-action report shortly after the riots. Columbia is also in the process of completing a similar assessment.
Reynolds, in his remarks, acknowledged there had been “some very heated, good discussions” as a result.
The report focused on five key areas of the police response: command and control, internal communications, external communications, keeping track of resources and personnel and, lastly, response to civil disturbances.
Members of Charleston City Council’s public safety commission, including Mayor John Tecklenburg, received hard copies of the report Thursday morning, about four hours before meeting virtually to discuss its preliminary findings in the early afternoon.
An electronic version of the report was emailed to all city council members around noon.
The public will get its chance to weigh in on the report in the coming weeks.
“Maybe rather than saying we were caught off guard,” Tecklenburg observed in the report, “we were attacked and overwhelmed.”
A plan that fell apart
The May 25 killing of Floyd, a Black man whose final breaths were captured on a bystander’s cellphone video that showed him gasping under the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis, ignited a call for police reform on a scale not seen since the civil rights movement.
Massive gatherings for racial justice cropped up across the country, with protesters demanding justice in the streets. In Charleston, the protests had been largely peaceful.
So when Charleston Police created an “incident action plan” for the May 30 protests, the report noted “there was no anticipation that the day would end any differently.”
They staffed 51 officers. By the end of the night, police deployed an additional 123 officers, with its day-shift officers held over and its midnight-shift officers brought into work early for a total of 174 officers. Local and state agencies also responded, bringing the total number of law enforcement staffing totals to 336.
On Sunday, May 31, the report says a total of 381 were staffed to respond, including 42 members of the National Guard.
A curfew was put in place at the end of the day on May 31 so that there would not, “be a repeat of the destruction of the night before.”
The report said there were no serious injuries or deaths. However, seven city employees were injured: three police officers and four firefighters. Three officers from other responding law enforcement agencies were also injured.
Police recorded total losses from the night at more than $47,800, which largely came from damages to 20 police vehicles. Additionally, one flashlight was damaged and one body camera was lost.
Overwhelmed by calls
From 2 p.m. May 30, to 3:01 a.m. May 31, authorities received 238 calls for service to locations on the Charleston peninsula, the report said.
Calls for service included citizens calling to report what they were seeing in-person, victims reporting crimes, citizens calling from outside the city to share what they saw on their cameras, as well as police officers being flagged down by citizens and police officers attempting to address various issues.
But on May 30, the volume of calls increased dramatically, and the report said “almost all pertained to the riots breaking out.”
“Businesses were calling for extra patrols while others were reporting looting and vandalism. Scared by what was happening, citizens were calling and asking for help. Others reported shots being fired, while others reported fireworks,” the report said.
In total, the Charleston County Consolidated Dispatch Center received more than 1,600 calls between 6 p.m. May 30, and 6 a.m. May 31, a total that was nearly twice that of the two previous Saturday nights, which included the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
“Due to the significant increase in calls, it became necessary to triage, or prioritize the order in which the limited police resources would be utilized,” the report said.
This meant calls were prioritized based on immediate need, according to the report, with officers responding to life-threatening situations first, non-lethal felonies in progress second and all other calls, known as general response, third.
At no point, though, were any officers told to stand down or stop making arrests. It’s a claim that circulated widely after the riots happened, despite repeated attempts by city officials and police to debunk it.
“There were clear directives to make arrests throughout the day and night, and at no point were officers told not to make arrests,” the report said. “Officers do not need permission to make arrests and should do so only when appropriate and when safe. Additionally, there was no ‘stand-down’ order given on the night of the riots.”
Lessons learned
As a direct result of its response to the riots, the Charleston Police Department proactively began making changes to how it operates over the summer. Those changes were documented in detail in the report released Thursday.
For example, communication between groups of officers became limited when two radio channels were being used for calls related to the riots. The purpose of using multiple radio channels is to increase communication, but when that purpose is no longer being served, the report notes it is better to bring those channels together.
Charleston Police is now working with Charleston County Consolidated Dispatch Center to use an incident channel that can be merged with the police department’s main channels.
Since this event, Charleston police has also used a staging manager with a designated location for all additional resources to report to and receive an initial briefing. The report notes this should be standard practice moving forward.
Charleston police bought additional protective equipment to allow for more officers to be equipped to safely respond to a riot. The department implemented a software program to organize staff and resources. During the riots, police had tracked its officers on a whiteboard.
Though Charleston police used both social media and a reverse 911 service to alert residents of the riots, the report said emergency management would have allowed for better communication with community leaders.
The report also said officers complied with protocols in its use of tear gas. Additionally, a complete review of the police department’s policies and field guide regarding its response to civil disturbances is underway.
Next steps
For two hours, members of the city’s public safety commission listened to the findings. Almost all said they would need time to digest what they had heard.
Some raised initial questions about what changes they’d like to see in the report moving forward.
City councilman Mike Seekings asked if the report would include input or interviews with people who were in or around the riots. City Councilman Peter Shahid also called for those experiences to be included in future versions of the report.
“We were all caught off guard by this, so I think it would be helpful. There were folks who were literally trapped into certain businesses, certain establishments, certain restaurants,” Shahid said.
The report also prompted some open-ended questions about whether the city should have issued a curfew sooner.
“Would that have helped with some of the issues we had with diners in restaurants, and restaurant owners being really unprepared with what was happening? Literally people were rioting on King Street, while folks were eating dinner,” City Councilman Jason Sakran said, calling his question a rhetorical one.
Tecklenburg did not address it, but earlier in the meeting told his colleagues, “We all agree on this: May 30 was a bad night in the City of Charleston.”
