One question to ask is about the tactical decisions made by law enforcement in Minneapolis. Where are the police right now? I don't mean that in a "where are they?!" way. Purely in a "what was the argument/consideration to not have them in the places currently burning?" way

Based on my reporting in other cities that have faced similar uprisings, seems likely that there was a high level decision made to prioritize not having police v citizen confrontations that could go sideways and potentially result in another police use of force

Can be helpful to think of these days as cycles of violence - Day 1 the police kill someone (violence), that night or Day 2 people protest...someone throws a rock (violence) and police tear gas everyone (violence), Day 2-3 people respond by being increasingly violent themselves

What happens, if in attempt to stop the current round of violence, police end up escalating things further (even justified - maybe someone pulls a gun, throws fire at them)? What happens if someone dies? A protester or a cop? Gotta weigh all that when deciding what to do tonight

Lot of different things you could do. Can't say I've ever witnessed an obvious best practice. A curfew, for example, creates a standoff at whatever time the curfew is. Everyone stands around until the time of the curfew daring police to move them. Then someone throws a rock...

Heavy police response to fires/property destruction can, in some cases, just move the violent protests to other parts of the city -- so instead of a few burned down buildings, you end up with MORE burned down buildings across a broader slice of the city

Another tactic, apparently being advocated by the President of the United States, is that you could shoot people -- another escalation in the cycle of violence https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1266231100780744704

Having been on the ground in 3 or 4 cities that have had violent uprisings (including months in Ferguson) I've seen most of those tactics firsthand (except for Trump's "shoot them" suggestion). Each has pros and cons. None perfect. Will be interesting to hear police thinking here

We forget how deep the Ferguson cycles of violence went. There were police shootings that happened *at protests. shootings of citizens by citizens. And of police by citizens. There were nights where some showed up armed *to shoot at police*. It was objectively horrifying

Anyway. Just some things I’m thinking about tonight