Cops face protesters, ignore looters

Kevin Drum:

The looters were completely unrelated to the protesters, who were generally peaceful. But there were hundreds of police officers facing off against hundreds of protesters, seemingly just waiting for a water bottle to be thrown so they could retaliate in force. 

Meanwhile, a few blocks away, TV helicopters showed looters destroying storefronts in precision formation with not a cop in sight. 

Since local law enforcement also has helicopters, I assume they knew perfectly well what was going on. They just didn’t feel like doing anything about it.

See also "When did cops become such cowards?"