The Buffalo Police Department is still figuring out how to move forward in the wake of resignations last week of its entire 57-member tactical team that responds to protests and civil unrest.
Emergency Response Team members resigned from the unit less than 24 hours after two of the unit's officers were suspended for shoving a 75-year-old man to the ground during a protest Thursday night in front of City Hall.
Police brass are currently reviewing the team's status, a law enforcement source said.
After Thursday night's incident – which drew criticism from across the country and the world and led to two officers being charged with felony assault – Buffalo police made a tactical decision to take a less visible stance with protesters, Mayor Byron W. Brown said.
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"Police told me of that tactical decision," Brown said Sunday at one of several prayerful gatherings in the city. "I agreed with it wholeheartedly."
Over the weekend, there was no violence reported in association with any of the demonstrations, said Buffalo Police Capt. Jeff Rinaldo.
Police monitored activities and deployed traffic division officers to escort those marching, Rinaldo said.
The mayor on Sunday canceled the last night of a curfew that had been in place nightly beginning June 2 after he discussed the matter with members of the community and law enforcement officials.
"Community organizations, community activists have indicated that the peaceful, organized protests that they hold, the people will police those events. The people will make sure those events are safe," Brown said.
Without an active crowd control team in place, the Buffalo Police Department is working with the State Police and other law enforcement agencies, which will provide resources should the need arise, officials said.
Just after 8 p.m. Thursday, members of the Emergency Response Team pushed Martin Gugino of Amherst as officers worked to clear Niagara Square of demonstrators as the citywide curfew went into effect. Gugino fell backward, hitting his head on the concrete sidewalk.
On Friday night, police were less visible and did not clear Niagara Square of protesters when the 8 p.m. curfew went into effect. Later that night, two groups of police were seen exiting the area of Niagara Square after boarding buses at Police Headquarters.
Officers Aaron Torgalski and Robert McCabe were charged Saturday with felony assault. Both officers pleaded not guilty. A crowd of about 250 people, including many police officers and firefighters, gathered outside Buffalo City Court to show support for the officers.
The police department formed the Emergency Response Team a little more than five years ago as a specialized unit that would be deployed in situations including mass arrests, riots and protests.
Unit members received special training through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and has been a "crucial part" of the department's response to events, whether the events are planned or pop up, Rinaldo said.
The unit was deployed last July for a peaceful protest in which demonstrators shut down a downtown intersection to traffic.
Brown announced the curfew Tuesday, the morning after the driver of an SUV ran over a state trooper and hit two other officers on Bailey Avenue.
Monday was the 10th straight day of demonstrations in Buffalo, gatherings that began as protests against police brutality in the wake of the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a black man who died after a police officer pressed his knee into the back of Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes.
