Yann Ranaivo

The News Journal

Wilmington police’s Special Weapons And Tactics team and the unit that handles large crowd control and mass protests have been asked to be ready to spring into action should local riots break out in response to a grand jury’s much anticipated decision on whether to indict the Ferguson, Missouri, cop involved in the August shooting death of Michael Brown.

“We have a mobile field force unit and the SWAT team being told that they should make an effort to be available, but there’s no official obligation to be on call as far as I understand,” Harold Bozeman, president of the local union Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1, said in a text message. “But it is because of Ferguson.”

Bozeman said every on-duty cop, including detectives and Mayor Dennis P. Williams’ security detail, have also been asked to dress in full uniform.

“Everyone is back in uniform until this all blows over,” he said, adding that detectives and vice officers are among the personnel that usually don’t dress in uniform.

Brown’s shooting by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson has drawn nationwide attention and the incident’s aftermath saw both peaceful and violent protests. The protests also prompted various peace-keeping efforts by authorities, including Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, who declared a state of emergency in his state Monday.

Mayoral spokeswoman Alexandra Coppadge didn’t offer any direct comment on Wilmington’s response to the matter in Ferguson, but said she planned to release a statement later Friday.

Councilman Robert Williams, a former Wilmington police officer and a member of City Council’s public safety committee, said the force’s preparation is appropriate.

“I think that they if they didn’t do some kind of preemptive measure, they would have been ridiculed and dropped across the coals for lack of foresight,” Robert Williams said. “It’s better to be over-prepared for a non-event than it is to be under-prepared for an actual event.”

Contact Yann Ranaivo at (302) 324-2837, yranaivo@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @YannRanaivo.