Cost of police gear for pipeline protest released

North Dakota outlines $600,000 in purchases

BISMARCK, N.D. — North Dakota law enforcement purchased more than $600,000 worth of body armor, tactical equipment and crowd control devices during the height of protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline, state invoices show.

The purchases, tallied by The Associated Press from invoices obtained through a public records request, included pepper spray, flash-bang and smoke grenades, riot helmets, gas masks, night-vision goggles, more than 2,000 rounds of nonlethal ammunition and more.

The equipment ultimately made up a small share of the $35 million in policing costs associated with the pipeline, and state officials defend the purchases as reasonable for a protest that attracted thousands of “water protectors” to southern North Dakota who skirmished — sometimes violently — with law enforcement.

“There was a legitimate, deliberate plan that was put together that said, ‘OK, how can we do this and do it safe for folks on both sides?’ ” state Homeland Security Director Greg Wilz said. “At the end of the day we were successful.”

Most of the purchases were in September, October and November of last year, when confrontations near a protest encampment grew most heated. Authorities established their own operations center a short distance away and manned it for months, making 761 arrests. About 75 officers were deployed on a typical day, though the number jumped to as many as 540 during one skirmish.

Invoices show Minneapolis-based police equipment company Streicher’s was paid nearly $613,000 for gear.

Protesters who have filed an excessive force lawsuit say police became “militarized” by October of last year and point to the use of such equipment, including tear gas, rubber bullets and concussion grenades. They allege a wide range of injuries, including burns, broken bones, eye injuries and wounds requiring stitches and staples. Among those injured was Sophia Wilansky, a 21-year-old New York woman who underwent several surgeries for a serious arm injury. Protesters maintain she was injured by a grenade thrown by police, while authorities say she was hurt by a small propane tank that protesters rigged to explode.

Police say officers were subjected to thrown objects and in one instance gunshots, though they did not report any serious injuries.

Two experts on policing — Michigan State University Intelligence Program Director David Carter and John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor Eugene O’Donnell — both said the purchases seemed reasonable.

John L. Mone The Associated Press Protesters demonstrating against the expansion of the Dakota Access Pipeline wade in creek waters Nov. 2, 2016, confronting local police as remnants of pepper spray waft over the crowd near Cannon Ball, N.D.