George Floyd Riots Caused Record-Setting $2 Billion in Damage, New Report Says. Here’s Why the True Cost Is Even Higher
Even beyond face-value insurance costs, riots leave a lasting shadow on a city that haunts its economy for decades.
One
study of the 1992 Los Angeles riots concluded that not only did the destruction cause $1 billion in initial property damage, over time it led to an economic decline of $3.8 billion in sales activity and at least $125 million in tax revenue.
And seeing as the new reporting shows that the George Floyd riots were more destructive than the riots in either of the above periods, we can reasonably expect that the long-term economic consequences will be more severe as well.
After-Action Reports on the Riots of 2020
The unrest after the death of George Floyd overwhelmed many agencies and resulted in injuries to thousands of officers. What needs to be done before the next incident ignites protests and riots?
68 largest municipal and county jurisdictions in the United States and Canada from May 25, 2020 to July 31, 2020. MCCA members say they experienced
8,700 total protest events during that roughly two-month period.
3,692 involved unlawful acts of civil disobedience. Five hundred of these occurred in a single city. Eight of the reporting cities—Columbus, Denver, Detroit, Memphis, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, and Tucson—said that every protest during the May 25 to July 31 period involved unlawful but non-violent acts. Some of these protests may have also involved violence. MCCA reports that
574 of the protests it studied involved violence.
More than
2,035 law enforcement officers were injured at the protests and riots during the time frame studied.
The most common weapon used by the rioters against officers in the reporting cities and counties were
thrown projectiles, including rocks, bricks, glass bottles, and frozen water bottles. The report says violent protesters often used a front line of peaceful protesters as
human shields while they
assaulted officers with thrown objects.
Officers were also commonly assaulted with commercial fireworks, impact weapons, and lasers targeting their eyes. Nearly half of the respondents said
rioters had used incendiary devices. MCCA reports that some
rioters used the tactic of throwing firebombs behind the officers so that they could be trapped between barriers built by the mob and the flames. A little
more than half of reporting jurisdictions said they had encountered firearms during the protests and riots. One agency reported that
four of their officers were shot by rioters.
arrested
16,241 protesters and rioters from May 25 to July 31. Nearly
17% of these arrests were for felonies and 7% of the total involved violence. Many of the cases were quickly dismissed, which may explain why 52% of the reporting agencies said they arrested the same people twice for “protest-related crimes.”