Law enforcement agencies spent more than $2 million during George Floyd protests

Local and state law enforcement agencies report spending more than $2.1 million responding to protests in Raleigh as of mid-June.

Protests erupted in Raleigh and around the country days after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for nearly nine minutes, killing him.

In Raleigh, protests May 30 and 31 started peacefully, but devolved into vandalism and looting as law enforcement agencies deployed tear gas and fired sponge grenades at protesters. Protesters threw water bottles, rocks and fireworks at police.

Calmer demonstrations in Raleigh followed, mostly without police intervention. A curfew was in place from June 1 to 7, and Gov. Roy Cooper called in the National Guard.

The News & Observer asked law enforcement agencies how much they have spent on the demonstrations, including overtime costs for officers.

The data received is limited to protests from May 30 through early June. It doesn’t include money spent on June 19, when protesters pulled down two Confederate statues at the North Carolina State Capitol.

It also does not include this week’s protests outside the Executive Mansion. People have camped out to demand Cooper veto a bill that would further restrict public access to death investigation records for people in police custody, jails and prisons. Twenty people blocking traffic on Capital Boulevard were arrested Thursday night.

A breakdown of costs

The Raleigh Police Department spent more than $860,000 on 2,346 hours of overtime between May 30 and June 8.

The Wake County Sheriff’s Office spent almost $400,000 from May 30 to June 6 on “civil unrest costs.” On five out of eight days, it deployed more than 100 deputies.

The State Capitol Police, which patrols state-owned property in Raleigh, spent almost $50,000 monitoring protests from May 29 to June 3, WRAL reported.

The National Guard told The N&O the cost to deploy 501 service members between May 29 and June 8 was $724,785 in active-duty pay. Operations and maintenance cost more than $38,000, an estimate based on the 61 vehicles deployed.

However, the service members were deployed to Raleigh, Greenville, Fayetteville and Asheville, said N.C. National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Matthew Devivo in a phone interview.

There was Guard support of Raleigh law enforcement at Crabtree Valley Mall, North Hills, Cameron Village and downtown in the state capitol area, Devivo said.

“Raleigh was definitely one the places that had a lot of Guard activity in support of local law enforcement,” he said.

The State Highway Patrol, which was also active during the protests, spent almost $150,000 from May 30 to June 12 while policing the protests in Raleigh, according to data from N.C. Department of Public Safety. Officers guarded the Governor’s Mansion on the second day of protests. They were dressed in riot gear.

The Raleigh City Council, following a recommendation from Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown, hired a Chicago-based consultant to review the Police Department’s response during the protests. The city will pay 21CP Solutions $87,500 for its work, with recommendations expected in September.

This story was originally published July 3, 2020 at 5:30 AM.