The Major Cities Chiefs Association released a report detailing the number of violent riots and the number of police officers injured during the riots U.S. cities faced after the death of George Floyd in May.
The MCCA, which has members in 69 of the largest cities in the U.S., released the findings of their survey in October and compiled data from May 25 to July 31, 2020. In total, 8,700 protests took place in major American cities during that time period.
Of the 8,700 protests, 574 of them were riots that saw mass looting and destruction.
"This violence was limited to only 7% of all protests and in most cases, the acts were perpetrated by individuals or small groups that infiltrated the larger protests. Nonetheless, the sheer volume of protests, combined with the level of civil disobedience and existence of some ultra-violent events, created an extraordinarily challenging environment for law enforcement agencies," the MCCA stated.
During the riots cities experienced, the MCCA said their survey found at least 2,000 police officers were injured:
"In cities where violence did occur, assaults on police officers, looting, and arson were the most common criminal activities. Approximately, 72% of major city law enforcement agencies had officers harmed during the protests. This included nearly every agency that experienced at least one violent protest. In total, over the course of the civil unrest from May to July, more than 2,000 officers sustained injuries in the line of duty. One agency reported 50 officers being injured in a single week of protests. Another agency reported that 462 of their officers were injured during the protests in their jurisdiction.
"Looting was also a common occurrence (2,385 instances), with 62% of major city law enforcement agencies indicating that at least one incident of looting occurred in their cities. This activity was primarily clustered during the first few days of protests. Of note, several agencies reported that in some instances, the looting appeared to be coordinated and organized. For example, some cities encountered 'looting caravans' that moved throughout different neighborhoods. One agency reported 115 commercial burglaries occurred in just one day. Two other agencies reported $927,000 worth of damage as a result of looting in each of their jurisdictions, and another agency reported a single looting event at a shopping mall that resulted in over $70 million in damage."
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"Several agencies also had police precincts set on fire and hundreds of police cars were significantly damaged throughout the various protests across the U.S. One agency alone reported 300 police cars damaged to include 19 that were fully engulfed in flames," MCCA reported.
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