Kyle Kirchmeier rejects condemnation of action against protesters as Standing Rock Sioux chairman says pair disagree over use of ‘aggressive force’

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The North Dakota sheriff leading the response to the Dakota Access oil pipeline protests has rejected criticism of action taken against demonstrators who he believes have become increasingly aggressive.

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“We are just not going to allow people to become unlawful,” said Morton County sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, a veteran of the North Dakota highway patrol and national guard who was elected to his first term as sheriff about two years ago.

“It’s just not going to happen.”

More than 525 people from across the country have been arrested in months of protests over the four-state, $3.8bn pipeline, in support of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe that is fighting the project because it believes it threatens drinking water and cultural sites on its nearby reservation.

Kirchmeier’s job of policing the protesters – the vast majority of whom have been camping on federal land that the US army corps of engineers says it will close in December over safety concerns – has cost the county more than $8m, even with help from the highway patrol and officers from other states.

Police tactics have drawn criticism from Standing Rock’s tribal leader as well as protest organizers and celebrities.

Standing Rock Sioux chairman Dave Archambault said he and Kirchmeier had met many times and each meeting had been tense and unproductive.

“I don’t think aggressive force is necessary and he thinks it’s necessary,” Archambault said.

In the most recent clash between police and protesters, near the path of the pipeline through last Sunday night into Monday morning, officers used teargas, rubber bullets and large water hoses in freezing weather.

Protest organizers said at least 17 demonstrators were taken to the hospital, some for hypothermia and one for a serious arm injury, and one officer was injured.

Archambault called the confrontation an act of terror against unarmed protesters that was sanctioned by Kirchmeier.

“His job is to protect and serve, not to inflict harm and hurt,” he said.

But Kirchmeier, who has the backing of the state’s Republican governor and attorney general, defended officers’ actions. He and other authorities said officers were assaulted with rocks, bottles and burning logs.

Kirchmeier, 53, grew up in Morton County, which has a population of fewer than 30,000, about 15 residents per square mile. He retired from the North Dakota highway patrol as a captain after 29 years and served in the national guard for four.

Kirchmeier hasn’t had a day off since August, routinely working more than 12 hours a day. The 34 deputies in his department are pulling similar shifts, he said, even with help from more than 1,200 officers from North Dakota and nine other states.

Some officers have been targeted online by protesters, Kirchmeier included. He said someone recently posted the location of his father’s grave, which he took as an effort to intimidate.

“Social media has been very bad and it has turned out like law enforcement is building the pipeline,” he said. “I can’t stop the pipeline. My job is to enforce the law.”

Barack Obama raised the possibility of rerouting the pipeline and construction on the last remaining large chunk, which is on federal land near the reservation, was halted for the time being. But Kelcy Warren, chief executive of the pipeline developer, Energy Transfer Partners, said the company would not do any rerouting.

Kirchmeier, like many other of the state’s elected officials, blames the Obama administration for not stepping in.

“The issue of the pipeline is not going to get solved with protesters and cops looking at each other,” he said. “This is bigger and takes way more political clout than what the county has to offer.”

North Dakota’s attorney general, Wayne Stenehjem, said Kirchmeier was in “an incredibly difficult position”.

“He has the responsibility to allow people to lawfully exercise their first amendment rights and he has the obligation to stop it when there is violence contrary to the law,” Stenehjem said. “And now there are a significant number of lawless people and the citizens are worried.”

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Governor Jack Dalrymple said Kirchmeier “has done a remarkable job dealing with all the issues brought about by these protests. He has been totally professional in what is not a typical law enforcement challenge in North Dakota.”

With winter looming, the army corps of engineers has decided to close the land north of the Cannonball river, where the Oceti Sakowin protest encampment has flourished, on 5 December, also citing the confrontations between protesters and authorities, according to a letter Archambault said he received.

“To be clear, this means that no member of the general public, to include Dakota Access pipeline protesters, can be on these Corps lands,” the letter provided by the tribe said.

But protest organizers said on Saturday that they did not intend to leave or stop their acts of civil disobedience.

Kirchmeier said before the corps’ move that North Dakota residents who have grown tired – and increasingly afraid – of the protests were backing law enforcement.

“People don’t want their livelihoods disrupted,” he said. “They are not taking this lightly.”