What is the process for a TFR based on law enforcement activity? Regarding the recently announced TFR for the Ferguson, MO area, what is the process by which such a TFR is granted?

The official reason given is "TO PROVIDE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES", however, there has been significant commentary on social media arguing that this may be a politically-motivated act to prevent the media from scrutinizing the actions of law enforcement (for instance here).

As far as I know, there is no (public) information regarding threats to airborne vehicles, and despite some initial reports most of the protests in the area have been peaceful.  I'd like to assume that this TFR was created for legitimate, non-political reasons.

Is it common for the FAA to grant a TFR like this to local police?  What is the process by which this is done?  What criteria are considered by the FAA in determining whether such a TFR is warranted?



For the sake of posterity, the full text of the TFR NOTAM is:

!FDC 4/0271 ZKC MO..
AIRSPACE FERGUSON, MO..
TEMPORARY FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS. WITHIN AN AREA DEFINED AS 3 NM RADIUS OF 
384428N0901812W (ST LOUIS VORTAC STL129011.0) SFC-3000FT TO PROVIDE A SAFE 
ENVIRONMENT FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES. PURSUANT TO 14 CFR SECTION 
91.137(A)(1) TEMPORARY FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS (TFR) ARE IN EFFECT. ONLY AIRCRAFT 
PERMITTED UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF 14 CFR 91.137(B) ARE ALLOWED TO OPERATE IN 
THIS 91.137(A)(1) TFR. THESE AIRCRAFT MUST BE OPERATING UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
THE UNIFIED COMMAND AT THE ST. LOUIS EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER AND MUST 
CONTACT THE MID-AMERICA AIR OPERATIONS BRANCH AT TELEPHONE 636-825-9341 OR 
636-825-9342 FOR PERMISSION TO ENTER THE TFR PRIOR TO DEPARTURE. ST.LOUIS 
GATEWAY TRACON, TELEPHONE 314-890-1017, IS THE FAA COORDINATION FACILITY. 
MEDIA CONCERNS REGARDING THIS TFR SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO FAA PUBLIC AFFAIRS 
THROUGH THE WASHINGTON OPERATIONS CENTER AT 202-267-3333. 1411250415-1411251015
TFRs around "volatile situations" on the ground aren't a daily occurrence, but they do happen fairly frequently.  

The concerns are usually twofold: Events on the ground posing a hazard to aircraft (people shining lasers at aircraft, firing guns at them, etc.), and aircraft posing hazards to each other (News 2, News 4, News 11, and Police helicopters all wanting to cover the same area at the same time and smacking into each other).

There are procedures in effect for agencies to request TFRs, and for the FAA to review them. These are covered in detail in FAA JO 7210.3Y, Chapter 19. Particularly relevant to this situation is 19-2-5 (e): "TFRs issued for law enforcement activities require approval from the ATO Director of System Operations Security (or designee)." - a relatively high level of approval intended to safeguard against the use of TFRs to, for example, keep the media away.



In the case of Ferguson the regulatory basis for the TFR is cited as FAR 91.137(a)(1) (to protect persons and property on the surface or in the air from a hazard associated with an incident on the surface), so presumably their major concern is laser illumination or weapons fire from the ground, and the potential for such incidents to cause a surprised pilot to crash into a building or crowd of people.