No indictment in Ferguson case

"I'm a thinker and a lover, not a fighter, but don't try anything because I can fight too, and this itchy beard is pissing me off anyhow"

CLAYTON, Missouri —St. Louis looks like a city prepping for a storm. In Ferguson, residents are filling their gas tanks and stockpiling supplies, as strip-mall business owners spray-paint “OPEN” on plywood barricades nailed across storefronts.

Twelve miles south, in the wealthy suburb of Clayton —home to a cluster of investment banks, upscale restaurants, art galleries, and the grand jury hearing for the Michael Brown case — the preparations are a little more sophisticated and a lot more expensive.

The predominantly white residents of Clayton seem convinced that the protesters will take out their anger there, and are hurrying to insulate themselves from the threat with private security firms.

Asymmetric Solutions, a St. Louis-based security and intelligence company that is staffed by U.S. special-operations veterans, has been working with companies around the metropolitan area whose assets are valuable enough to justify the firm’s steep rates. A project manager for the company, who asked not to be named, predicts that outside of Ferguson “most of the difficulty will occur in the Clayton area…the bastions of white wealth and privilege.”

When the grand-jury decision comes down, the firm will deploy its operatives to probable flashpoints. “You’ll never notice any of our people,” he said. “We’re not putting fighters out there—we’re putting thinkers and managers out. Their ability to wage war effectively is simply one more tool in the toolbox.”