While the Wyoming Highway Patrol (WHP) rejected our request for the list of equipment they brought with them to the Standing Rock protests, the Wyoming Governor Matt Mead’s office has responded with the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) request that they received from North Dakota’s Governor’s Office.

The request for aid asks for 40 officers to deploy to Morton County, North Dakota to assist in suppressing “civil unrest” and “criminal activities related to opposition of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) project.” Water protecters themselves have continually denied that the protests have been violent or criminal.

North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple’s office also elaborated on the specifics of the operation - police departments and sheriff’s offices that responded to the EMAC request could be assigned to do reconnaissance work, function as riot police (i.e. mobile field force), or participate as part of the Immediate Action Team (IAT). Seeing as IAT’s are most commonly used to engage active shooters, it’s curious that North Dakota thought this relevant in regards to a protest that has reiterated its commitment to nonviolence.

Also included was a list of equipment that was recommended they bring with them. Along with the more obvious like warm winter clothes and their own department issued vehicles, cops were asked to bring riot control gear such as helmets, body armor, and batons, and were recommended to deploy in already-formed riot police squads. 4x4 trucks were recommended, and we may have found the answer to the question of equipment the WHP had redacted.

Though it is impossible to confirm, the “less lethal” weaponry mentioned in the WHP memo may have been a 40/37 mm chemical munitions launcher - more or less a grenade launcher used to discharge the tear gas used on demonstrators. It can also be used to launch canisters of pepper spray, smoke grenades, and other chemical irritants.

Read the EMAC request embedded below, or on the request page.

Image via The Young Turks YouTube