ustxtxb_obs_1968_07_12_50_00006-00000_000.pdf

Dean Keeton told the Observer that since law students have been accepted for the fall, the rider will affect the admission of only a few students next June. He said he would prefer to have higher admission standards for non-residents than to have an arbitrary ceiling on enrollment. “We will be talking with the regents about admissions policy all year, and we will study what other state law schools are doing,” he said. “There will be time for reevaluation of our policy before the legislature meets again next year.” K.N. An Observer Report Anti-Riot Preparation in Texas Austin A distributor of non-lethal weapons sets up shop, in Dallas to provide one-day delivery of MACE and CS gas to any police department within a six-state area. The governor provides emergency funds to equip national guard units with riot batons, shotguns, and armored vests. Stocking up on weapons as summer approaches has become as common as getting suntan oil and mosquito repellent. Although Texas has not had a major racial riot, its law enforcement officials have attempted to prepare for any eventuality. National Guard The Texas national guard is prepared to deal with riots in any area or city in the state, according to Maj. Gen. Thomas Bishop, adjutant general of the Texas national guard. Stressing that riot control is only one of three types of civil disturbance in which the guard might be used, General Bishop told Observer reporter Louise Stanford that “At the moment, the public’s main concern is with riot control, and we are fully prepared to restore order in that kind of situation.” Since the Detroit riots, the Texas guard has placed a heavy emphasis on training for possible riot control duty. The Department of the Army required that 32 hours of such training be completed by January, 1968; the Texas units have completed from 48 to 60 hours of riot control training. Bishop states that an important part of being prepared is the Texas guard’s “high degree of strategic mobility.” Within two hours of mobilization, he says, the guard could have 3,000 men beginning to saturate an area with troops; 10,000 men could be moved into almost any city within ten hours from the time the governor orders mobilization at the request of local authorities, Bishop says. According to Bishop, Texas still faces the possibility of riots this summer. However, he believes his earlier predictions that riots were probable have now been changed; disorders in April after the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King have permitted the state’s riot-prone communities to let off steam, he believes. Areas of possible riots in Texas have been designated by guard intelligence personnel; a key criterion, Bishop indicates, are concentrations of Negro population. It is assumed from past experi 6 The Texas Observer ence in other states, he says, that these are the areas that need the most careful watching. One exception is the Rio Grande Valley area “because of its distinct situation and past problems with labor organizing.” Intelligence units of the Texas guard have developed detailed maps of each major city in the state and of the Valley. The maps show the location of certain types of small businesses that are considered the most likely targets of looters and arsonists in a riot. Liquor stores, pawn shop’s, sporting goods stores, small appliance stores, certain chain food markets, and other types of targets tend to be concentrated in certain areas of a city, the general says, and the guard has plans to pay special attention to those areas. Maps have been prepared showing access routes into cities and entrance and exit routes for sections that are considered the most likely “hot riot areas” of a city. Intelligence officers of the guard have gone into these sections to determine possible hazards during guard occupation and to study the best ways to saturate the area effectively with troops. Preparing for the possible is, according to General Bishop, the main job of the n a i t o n a 1 guard. Recently, he appeared before the legislative budget board to increase the guard’s request for equipment purchases. Included in the request for additional funds are the following pieces of riot control equipment: 3,000 shotguns and 15 cases of ammunition, 3,000 yard-long riot batons, 3,000 gas masks, 3,000 helmets with eye shields, 1,800 bullet-proof vests capable of turning 30and 50-caliber rounds, 450 riot gas grenades, 100 dry charge extinguishers to alternate as chemical dispensers, and 15 chemical dispensers. The additional equipment has been purchased under an emergency appropriation authorized by the governor and is now available for use. WORKING WITH local police’ and the Department of Public Safety, the national guard has developed a threestage plan of riot alert. The first is the “green” stage. The crime and incident ratse in a potential riot area are about normal in the “green” stage and police intelligence can detect no unusual area activities. The second stage is the “yellow” stage. Police intelligence detects a definite in crease in crime and rates of incidents; a shift of police is held over for extra duty, or off-duty police are called in. When the “yellow” alert is given, the police notify the local guard commander, who in turn notifies General Bishop and the governor. The governor and the general establish contact with local police and the Department of Public Safety in a yellow alert. In addition, the local guard commander calls a guard drill alert and his units assemble at the area armory to wait for further orders from the governor or adjutant general’s office. The last stage in riot alert is the “red” stage; the situation in a city has reached the point where local officials request national guard troops and the governor mobilizes the guard. If guard troops are called into an area, they plan to follow a pre-determined method of riot control. The first part of the plan is simply to saturate the riot area with up to 10,000 troops. If the rioting is not controlled by the presence of troops on patrol, guard officers will authorize the use of tear gas, MACE, or CS. CS is a chemical deterrent similar to MACE as it acts more quickly and affects a person’s breathing; it is a form of tear gas which makes victims violently ill. The use of tear gas is reserved for demonstrations deemed less dangerous. MACE or CS will be used, Bishop says, when it is thought that quick-acting immobilization gases “are the only way to pacify potentially dangerous rioters who refuse to disperse.” The use of chemical deterrents is the second stage of riot control. If the presence of the national guard and the use of chemicals does not stop the rioting, looting, and arson, guard officers will be given orders to have their units shoot at some certain rioters; Bishop says those considered dangerous enough to shoot at are, primarily, snipers and those who refuse to obey direct guard orders to stop looting and burning in the area. Unlike the recently-adopted federal policy of not attempting to stop looters, the Texas national guard plans to prevent “wholesale looting” and will shoot to wound those actively looting a business, Bishop says. After the initial entry of guard troops it is expected that riot participants will disperse. If these people return to the area to continue looting and burning, guard officers are supposed to order their units to shoot.