Thursday, Mar 26th
Last update08:32:44 PM GMT
Domestic Glance
While police departments have deployed tear gas in cities including Denver, Seattle and on more than three separate occasions in Oakland, Calif., in response to Occupy street demonstrations, protesters in New York have been met with the sheer force of numbers, pepper spray, kettling nets to hold in crowds, and batons. Dozens have been hospitalized by a variety of crowd control tactics.
In the early months after the 9/11 terror attacks, America's visceral reaction was to gird for a relentless, whatever-it-takes quest to punish those responsible and prevent any recurrences.
To a striking extent, those goals have been achieved. Yet over the years, Americans have also learned about trade-offs, about decisions and practices that placed national security on a higher plane than civil liberties and, in the view of some, above the rule of law.
Retired Philadelphia Police captain Ray Lewis has joined Occupy Wall Street, calling the New York Police Department’s conduct “disgusting” and “totally uncalled for”:
What happens when a government builds a massive, unaccountable police apparatus to thwart infiltration by a foreign menace, only to see the society it's supposed to protect take to the streets for entirely different reasons?
It looks as though we may be about to find out. The Occupy protests have been mostly peaceful, with a few fairly dramatic exceptions. But the sight of a huge police presence in riot gear is always startling, and tactics that have been honed in Europe (such as "kettling") against anarchist actions have not been as common in the United States as elsewhere.
GoldÂman Sachs, which reÂceived more subÂsiÂdies and bailout-reÂlated funds than any other inÂvestÂment bank beÂcause the FedÂeral ReÂserve perÂmitÂted it to beÂcome a bank holdÂing comÂpany under its “emerÂgency sitÂuÂaÂtion,” has used bilÂlions in taxÂpayer money to enÂrich itÂself and reÂward its top exÂecÂuÂtives. It handed its seÂnior emÂployÂees a stagÂgerÂing $18 bilÂlion in 2009, $16 bilÂlion in 2010 and $10 bilÂlion in 2011 in mega-bonuses. This masÂsive transÂfer of wealth upÂwards by the Bush and Obama adÂminÂisÂtraÂtions, now esÂtiÂmated at $13 trilÂlion to $14 trilÂlion, went into the pockÂets of those who carÂried out fraud and crimÂiÂnal acÂtivÂity rather than the vicÂtims who lost their jobs, their savÂings and often their homes.
The 2008 presidential election brought millions of new voters to the polls, with enthusiasm especially high among youth and minority voters. Yet in Shelby County (the home of the great city of Memphis), over 15,000 voters, disproportionately young or Black voters, were omitted from the list of valid voters at the time of early voting; by Election Day, the names finally made it to the list.
As your police officers, we are confused.
On Tuesday, October 25th, we were ordered by Mayor Quan to clear out the encampments at Frank Ogawa Plaza and to keep protesters out of the Plaza. We performed the job that the Mayor’s Administration asked us to do, being fully aware that past protests in Oakland have resulted in rioting, violence and destruction of property.
Then, on Wednesday, October 26th, the Mayor allowed protesters back in – to camp out at the very place they were evacuated from the day before.
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