Krantz talks with Bend councilors about melee, need for more training

'We haven't trained significantly around these types of events. Bend has never seen these types of events.'

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Days after two groups’ gathering by Pilot Butte turned into a disturbing melee, Police Chief Mike Krantz talked with city councilors Wednesday evening about the challenges officers face in such volatile situations and the continuing need for more training to handle them well.

Krantz, who came to Bend from the Portland Police Bureau, said it’s clear that First Amendment protests are “among the most difficult, challenging” things officers can face.

“There is no perfect response to a protest event,” Krantz said, taking into account policing power and legal authority while not taking action unless absolutely necessary, and “how to do it with as little interference as we can.”

In the best of situations, “we don’t want to be there,” he said. “We’re not intended to be referees or moderators” between opposing views – but if there’s criminal activity, they will always investigate.

Councilors said they understood when Krantz said he couldn’t talk about many specifics regarding the Saturday event, as investigators have been poring over 12 hours of social-media and other video and preparing reports for Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel, who expects to announce any charging decisions in one to three weeks.

But Councilor Bruce Abernethy asked Krantz if he could address why sometimes people are arrested at the scene and others, seen to have possibly committed more serious crimes, are not.

Much of the intense reaction Saturday was when a man was cited for pulling a flag for President Trump off a pickup, but a man who clearly pointed a gun at others was not, and was allowed to leave (without the gun, which police seized).

Krantz already had laid out some specifics in a Sunday statement about how officers removed some protesters who blocked police cars after the man who pointed the gun was allowed to leave.

“So many things” go into officers’ decisions and actions at a protest, Krantz said, including crowd dynamics, the “current energy level” and whether an action is likely to calm or enflame the situation

“There is no one decision that will be consistent to another decision, because it all depends on the facts right then,” Krantz said.

“There’s never a 100 percent satisfaction of our response, when we have to respond to a scene like this,” he added.

 "I think one of the things we can learn, as a law enforcement agency, is that ongoing training and education about how to respond to these types of incidents cannot be underestimated," Krantz said.

"We need to train. We haven't trained significantly around these types of events. Bend has never seen these types of events, so it's difficult to train around things you never intend to respond to."

"It's shown me, as the chief, that we need to push for quality training to understand how response looks," the police chief said.

Later, during the council's call-in visitors section (the council is still meeting virtually), Michael Satcher said he was punched in the face at the event and police "failed to arrest anyone," while one officer choked a woman by pulling on her backpack to remove her from in front of a patrol car "while she gasped, 'I can't breathe.'" He called for that officer to be fired and Krantz to be removed as well. (The council only acknowledged receiving his letter.)

But during the earlier work session, Krantz told councilors that so far, in the review of videos and witness statements, “I believe most, or a lot of it, we responded very well. Officers were extremely tolerant, very patient. We didn’t take any custody of folks at the scene, and were trying to de-escalate it.”

Despite that, Mayor Sally Russell told Krantz it's clear that after the violence, some residents “are scared, some hurt, others disappointed. You have a really big job. A lot of people are watching you really closely.” She asked if he had anything else to say to residents, who will have another chance to say their piece at a police online “listening session” on Saturday, Oct. 17 from 9 a.m. to noon.

“Something I’ve learned,” Krantz said. “The people who are out there doing the job – getting yelled out, called names – live in the community, put on the uniform and badge every day” and are facing people who “get very aggressive against them."

“It’s sometimes demoralizing, a bit. I’m sitting in the office, doing administrative, managerial work. I try to teach, really, and talk about perspective. There wasn’t 100,000 people at the park, pushing against police.”

“It’s not everybody that frequently thinks one way or the other. A lot in the community support what police do. I think it’s important that we are a learning organization.”