Who are the peacekeepers?

Journalists on the ground in Ferguson last night credit the reduction in violence to the presence of community peacekeepers.

Peace Keepers guy helped calm the other guy and prevented a fight. Lots of folks trying to keep the calm #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/Xj3STUoMd3
— Amanda Terkel (@aterkel) August 20, 2014

Protestors forming line in front of police #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/YsLT0gwFfE
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) August 20, 2014

I remember this same thing happened in St. Paul in 2008 when local law enforcement adopted a militarized response to protesters at the Republican Convention. Community members came forward to receive training and act as mediators between the police and the protesters.

While I think that this is ultimately the answer to what is happening in Ferguson right now, it begs the question about the role of law enforcement. Shouldn't we be expecting THEM to be the peacekeepers? Isn't that what they are supposed to do? We won't get to the root of this problem until we get that one right.