Along with peaceful marches and demonstrations, the fourth night of protesting police brutality in Iowa resulted in more use of police force in Des Moines. 

After several dispersal orders coming up until three hours after the 9 p.m. Polk County curfew went into effect Monday night, law enforcement forcefully removed a group of protesters from outside the Iowa State Capitol with tear gas, pepper spray and flash bangs. 

This following morning, Gov. Kim Reynolds began her press conference by thanking those protesting peacefully while being critical of “agitators” resorting to violence, citing property damage and arrests. 

When asked about the threshold for law enforcement to use physical force, tear gas, flash bangs and pepper spray, Gov. Reynolds highlighted the protest’s chaotic elements before tapping Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety Stephan Bayens to elaborate. 

“It’s not a science, it’s an art, so to speak,” Commissioner Bayens said. “Those events are incredibly dynamic and chaotic. It’s chaotic for those in attendance and it’s chaotic for the officers too quite frankly. We train and train and train in large part so we can somewhat divorce ourselves from the chaos and the emotion that naturally builds in all of us.” 

A video of last night’s protest shows Des Moines Register reporter Katie Akin being pepper sprayed by law enforcement while shouting her media credentials and clearing the area as asked. 

Having seen the video, Commissioner Bayens said the officer in the video appeared to be a member of Des Moines Police Department and not a member of Iowa State Patrol or the Department of Public Safety. 

“I’m not here to second guess the actions that they felt were necessary to take at that point in time,” said Commissioner Bayens. “These are very fluid and dynamic circumstances, they are chaotic by nature. You also have to remember that we were experiencing yesterday a fair amount of calculated, intentional activity by a small group of folks that were organized.” 

The small group which Commissioner Bayens refers to he says grew more sophisticated with  increasingly specific tactics each night of protesting, adding more complication to the situation. The more problematic group Commissioner Bayens says blended into the more peaceful group protesting at the Court Avenue business district.

“It does become really difficult and challenging in those scenarios, and they’re doing the best they can,” said Commissioner Bayens.

Commissioner Bayens said when the decision is made to use physical force, tear gas and pepper spray, those decisions are, “not made in a vacuum.” 

“Last night we had folks stationed in the crowd, we had received intelligence information, we’re monitoring social media, we’re evaluating whether there was coordinated efforts being made during the course of that,” said Commissioner Bayens. “We have to evaluate all those things in conjunction with one another to evaluate the necessity and risk of taking those actions, and even then we are extremely reluctant to take those actions.” 

Between the Iowa State Patrol and tactical teams in combination with the Story County Sheriff’s Office facilitating Monday night’s protests, Commissioner Bayens vouched for their use of restraint citing five dispersal orders and not enforcing the 9 p.m. curfew. 

“We had a great protest at 6:30 [p.m.], a lot of good things being done, a lot of positive things coming out, a lot of healing coming out of that,” said Commissioner Bayens while also praising the group protesting at a Des Moines police station while pointing out the group protesting at the Iowa State Capitol building as not interested in having the same conversations. 

In response to those at home following the 9 p.m curfew and violating protesters, Gov. Reynolds told Iowans to do the right thing, saying the curfew was put in place to de-escalate problems occurring in the evening. 

Gov. Reynolds said she is focused on facilitating peaceful protesting in Iowa after she was asked a question regarding President Donald Trump’s ordering of law enforcement to use tear gas on protesters yesterday. 

“You have those that want to peacefully protest and have every right to do that, and you have hateful individuals that want to take advantage of what is happening and cause chaos,” said Gov. Reynolds. “They are hijacking the message, they are not helping us move forward, it’s just not going to be tolerated.” 

Constantly communicating with her experts, naming Iowa National Guard General Ben Corell as well as Commissioner Bayens, she said part of their response potentially includes use of the National Guard. 

“It is a resource I can call up if needed and at this point we have not needed that,” said Gov. Reynolds. “But, they are ready at a moment’s notice to be deployed and it would be to support what is already taking place.”