Respect and trust win out over unrest

It wasn’t luck or chance that last Saturday’s demonstration in support of Confederate monuments was mostly peaceful and nonviolent. It was the result of nonstop communication and intense planning among the various agencies and stakeholders involved to ensure it stayed that way.

City, county and state officials, fearful that the violence in Charlottesville, Va., the previous week would repeat itself in Hot Springs, came together in unprecedented fashion — and it paid off.

The “all hands on board” approach involved every city department, every level of county government, every law enforcement agency, to get everyone on the same page — a seemingly insurmountable task in itself.

We want to collectively thank the employees of the city of Hot Springs; City Manager David Frasher and his office; Police Chief Jason Stachey and the Hot Springs Police Department; Fire Chief Ed Davis and the Hot Springs Fire Department; Hot Springs Mayor Pat McCabe and the city’s board of directors; the Arkansas State Police; Arkansas Fusion Center; Garland County Sheriff’s Department; National Park Service; FBI; LifeNet; County Judge Rick Davis and the quorum court; the Garland County Department of Emergency Management; area hospitals; and Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s office.

In particular, we also want to thank Assistant Police Chief Chris Chapmond, who served as the overall incident commander.

Stachey told us the other day that the key to successful communication was getting every stakeholder, from downtown merchants to various city departments, and the various law enforcement agencies, on the same page — a responsibility that fell on Chapmond’s shoulders.

“I really want to give him praise, because when you talk about that many resources and assets and personnel, to ensure that everybody comes together and understands what that mission is, that’s really vital to the success of that operation,” Stachey said.

Fair enough, but Stachey should also be singled out for coordinating the overall effort, in our opinion.

Stachey initiated a dialogue with Frasher right after the incident in Charlottesville, before they even knew there was going to be another demonstration in Hot Springs National Park, to work out methodologies and philosophies of how to handle a similar protest locally.

Stachey took a stern and serious approach that there would be “zero tolerance” to any violence, destruction of property or violations of the law, all the while respecting everyone’s First Amendment rights, as guaranteed by the Constitution.

As Stachey notes, the Constitution does not guarantee you the freedom to cause harm to another individual, or somebody’s property.

A sum total of three minor disorderly conduct arrests was all that resulted from last weekend’s daylong rally, after only three days of preparation for the demonstration by the Confederate Square Group on Arlington Lawn.

Chapmond said they literally planned for the worst-case scenario and hoped for the best, and had an operational plan that was executed flawlessly.

“The officers on the street deserve all the credit, because they showed true professionalism,” Chapmond told us.

Stachey said he had no doubt that the visible aspect of the officers acted as a deterrent to some; Chapmond said “we do know for a fact” that people intent on causing trouble showed up, walked the downtown business corridor, saw the uniformed presence and left because of that.

“That’s why you preplan for these events,” Chapmond said, stressing the desire was not to deter free speech, but keep potential troublemakers away.

To some, the normally placid downtown area awash with tourists became an alarming site, with some anti-demonstrators exercising their right to open-carry firearms, wearing masks over their faces, and carrying backpacks that were not inspected.

“It could have been a powder keg,” Chapmond notes, but the officers kept the peace, in part, by keeping demonstrators and anti-protesters in separate groups.

As groups arrived around the demonstration area, they would be met by a Hot Springs police supervisor who would introduce himself, provide a contact number, ask for one in turn, and express the desire for a peaceful demonstration.

“Trust me, luck had nothing to do with it,” Sheriff Mike McCormick told us Friday.

“I have noticed over the past several years that communities with the extreme violence are those with the weakest or nonexistent partnerships between the community and public safety” agencies, McCormick said.

“In our community, both incorporated and non-incorporated areas, we are fortunate to have public safety agencies that understand the long-term importance of partnering with the people we serve. It’s about building and maintaining mutual respect and trust, not some of the time, but all of the time. This does not occur overnight but is an ongoing effort that our community works diligently toward. I applaud the citizens of our community and public safety officers for a job well done,” McCormick said.

We echo those sentiments, and hope that those partnerships only continue to grow to the benefit of our community.