Local unrest not expected, but counties prepared
Area officials say they have no reason to believe there will be any local violence tied to Joe Biden’s inauguration as president on Wednesday, but also that they are prepared if problems do arise.
“There’s no specific threats to the county at this point, but we are definitely watching social media we and making sure we are prepared,” said Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa.
Figueroa said he met with state police and police chiefs on Thursday to discuss security concerns and coordinate efforts to protect against the possibility of violence from extremist groups leading up to and during the inauguration.
“Although I can’t give you the specifics ... there will be a bigger presence of law enforcement throughout the county in the
next three to four days,” Figueroa said Monday. He said that in addition to increased patrols, there were will additional law-enforcement teams on “standby” during that time.
“We have extra folks working throughout the week, and we also have standby teams as well, and so does the state police and most local police agencies,” the sheriff said.
Likewise, Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro said while there is “no identified threat to local communities that we are aware of, our law-enforcement agencies are all on alert.”
“We will not, we do not, under any circumstance, tolerate political violence,” Molinaro said.
Molinaro said Dutchess County had dozens of civil rights and racial bias protests last spring, and that with the exception of a single violent interaction, those protests and counterprotests were peaceful. He said he expects nothing less from any protests that might take place in the coming days.
“I really do have not only the greatest faith in, but also a very high expectation of, this particular community,” Molinaro said of Dutchess County, adding that those who think the nation’s founding fathers would support the violence against our government should keep in mind that “the entirety of our government structures, our Constitution and our laws were all developed so we wouldn’t have violent political action.”
Figueroa said he was aware of some potential meetings and demonstrations but that those that have occurred have been “really low-key” and others have been canceled.
“A lot of people who wanted to demonstrate have changed their minds,” he said. Others, he said, are planning to hold virtual, rather than in-person, events.
The stepped-up police presence comes in response to an FBI alert issued last week that, according to The Associated Press, warned of possible “armed protests” not only in Washington, D.C., but also at state capitols across the country. Those protests, expected Sunday, largely failed to materialize.
There also was one unidentified group calling for protesters to storm state, local and federal courthouses and other government buildings, according to AP.
All of this comes in the wake of the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol in Washington by supporters of President Donald Trump as a joint session of Congress was meeting to certify Biden’s Electoral College victory over Trump.
The rioters, some armed, smashed through windows at the Capitol and overwhelmed police before breaking into the empty chambers where lawmakers were meeting just minutes earlier. At least five people died in the siege, including a Capitol Police officer. One rioter was fatally shot by police inside the building.
The siege followed a rally near the White House during which Trump told supporters to march to the Capitol and that “you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”
The House impeached Trump a week later for “incitement of insurrection.”