KALAMAZOO, Mich. — The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety publicly posted today as series of videos from the Proud Boys march in August.
The department posted a 10-video playlist after sharing a summary of the content at a news conference yesterday. It is also featuring the videos on the Transparency in Public Safety section of its website.
“At KDPS, our top priority is keeping our residents, visitors, businesses and the media safe, and we look at every incident as an opportunity to do things better and do things differently,” KDPS Chief Karianne Thomas said. “We are committed to transparency and accountability, and our goal is to learn from this incident, improve and create a better Kalamazoo for residents, families and visitors.”
KDPS called the situation "chaotic and dangerous," and the department said re-watching the footage gave them better perspective on their response. They hope to use this incidentto improve their response in the future.
KDPS said they "intentionally chose to avoid a strong police presence" to try to avoid as much violence as possible.
There were many conversations with the groups involved, but they said the Proud Boys published the wrong start time and location.
The counter protesters also told the city they would be there peacefully, yet some came with openly displayed weapons.
