Over 100 police agencies, fearing they won’t be able to maintain safe crowd control, have withdrawn their officers from contracts to provide security for the DNC next month in Milwaukee.

Joe Biden has accused President Trump of distracting the country and trying to scare voters by dispatching federal authorities to cities. Most demonstrators are “peaceful protesters” who are not a threat to be met by federal power, Biden maintains. “Arsonists and anarchists should be prosecuted … local law enforcement can do that.”

Democrats are searching for a safe way to stage their convention. Beyond sensible security, the political challenge facing Democrats is how to position themselves politically vis-a-vis local law enforcement, writes James Freeman in the WSJ.

Polls suggest that in many areas local cops are much more popular than any of the candidates running for President this fall.

Is Biden a Tool of Leftists?

Lighting fires in a federal courthouse or hurling projectiles against police go well beyond the bounds of peaceful protests, notes William Galston in the WSJ. “By failing to acknowledge and denounce these acts, Mr. Biden has left himself exposed to the charge that his presidency would not draw a forceful line against violence.”

From the Associated Press:

More than 100 police agencies are withdrawing from agreements to send personnel to bolster security at next month’s Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, in part because they’re concerned about a recent directive ordering police in the city to stop using tear gas to control crowds.

A citizen oversight commission last week directed Milwaukee’s police chief to publicly account for why the department used tear gas during protests in late May and early June after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and to change Milwaukee’s police policies to ban the use of tear gas and pepper spray. The Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission said in its order that Police Chief Alfonso Morales could be fired if he fails to comply…

Fond du Lac Police Chief William Lamb told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the agreements were collapsing, saying he expects other agencies in the state to also withdraw. Lamb chairs the Wisconsin Police Executive Group, which is made up of police chiefs from cities with populations of more than 20,000 people.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Franklin Police Chief Rick Oliva raised similar concerns in a letter he sent to Morales last week stating that his agency was no longer sending personnel to assist at the convention “due to recent decisions by Milwaukee elected and appointed officials.”

“It is apparent there is a lack of commitment to provide the Milwaukee Police Department with the resources it needs to ensure the safety of peaceful protesters, attendees, citizens and police personnel,” Oliva wrote in his July 23 letter, copies of which were sent to Mayor Tom Barrett, the Common Council president and the FPC. “I can not send personnel if they are not properly equipped or will not be allowed to engage in appropriate actions which would ensure their safety.”