The Wichita Police Department spent more than $1.5 million paying overtime to officers and other employees under a temporary staffing directive aimed at monitoring early June protest activity that authorities feared might lead to unrest in the city. At the same time violence prompted Wichita police to break up gatherings at 21st and Arkansas on two successive nights, the department implemented an “Emergency Mobilization Plan” its says was meant to ensure officer and community safety if demonstrations spurred by the death of George Floyd in Minnesota escalated locally. Luckily, the city saw no large-scale protest-related violence outside of June 2 and 3, when cops in riot gear cleared angry and aggressive crowds that had resorted to vandalism, looting and gunfire.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
