Monday on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” Democratic State Sen. Jeff Roorda, a former chief of police, defended Missouri law enforcement tactics that have come under criticism for an over militarization by saying, “You can’t worry about the crowd’s response.”

Roorda said, “This is the sort of thing we saw at Kent State in the ’70s and the remarkable restraint and professionalism that the police officers involved in these protests and in in civil unrest have displayed to bring as a result of no serious injuries to protesters, no serious injuries to rioters, no serious injuries to folks in the neighborhood here and most importantly no police officers hurt. that’s an incredible performance. and I’m not going to question the tactics. the tacticians on the ground that assess these situations moment to moment are best suited to make those calls.” 

“You can’t worry about the crowd’s response. You have to worry about the outcome. The outcome is that nobody got hurt seriously and the police did their job once again in the ninth night of chaotic extraordinarily challenging circumstances.” he added.

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