Undernews: When Police Riot
By Sam Smith
What happened during the recent Washington demonstrations - just as a couple of years earlier in DC, Philadelphia and
Seattle - can properly be classified as a police riot. In all four cases, the major crimes were committed not by the
protesters but by law enforcement.
Most recently, approximately 650 peaceful protesters were arrested in Washington on one day, the third largest mass
arrest in the city's history and the second greatest on a single day. The offenses with which they were charged were
almost all minor misdemeanors that in a civilized society would have been handled with a ticket or a summons. Instead
the protesters were manhandled, assaulted, dragged, handcuffed and then incarcerated under conditions that constituted
deliberate mistreatment in some cases bordering on - as in the case of those left cuffed long hours from hand to foot -
a form of torture.
Many, if not most, of the protesters had committed no offense at all. They had simply been at the wrong place at the
wrong time when the DC police decided to coral anyone within a certain area and take them off to jail.
In doing so, the police committed a number of serious criminal offenses including false arrest - seizing those who had
been given no lawful order to disperse and, worse, physically preventing them from leaving the scene. The police also
engaged in assaults on protesters.
These were not just "violations of civil liberties" but actual criminal attacks that within another context - with the
offending party out of uniform - would have been easily seen as a felony. In uniform or not, however, those engaging in
such offenses should be confronted not just with civil actions but with criminal complaints. Further, the fact that the
offenders were in uniform aggravated the assaults on at least three counts:
- The offenses were not only against the victims but against the laws and the Constitution the officers had sworn to
uphold.
- The offenses damaged the reputation of those law enforcement officers who try to enforce the law fairly.
- Worst, the offenses intimidate those who wish to express their constitutional rights, clearly discouraging them from
doing so.
The media has made sure, however, that most people don't understand this. Through endless TV police shows and the blasé
manner in which the press covers police brutality and misconduct, the media has encouraged the public to accept criminal
excesses by the police and has encouraged the cops to engage in them. In the Washington example, the Washington Post
prior to the demonstrations beat the drums for a police crackdown and afterwards, the so-called alternative weekly, City
Paper ridiculed the protesters and had no substantive criticism of the police.
We could find only one mainstream journalist - Adrienne Washington of the Washington Times - who spoke up for the First
amendment and one local law professor who wrote an op ed piece criticizing the police.
In such ways has the media deeply enabled the sociopathy of contemporary law enforcement, the end of constitutional
government, and the growing and completely rational fear of law-abiding citizens that speaking up for one's rights has
become too dangerous to attempt.
One of the best descriptions of the proper role of a law enforcement officer was that delivered by Alexander Hamilton to
the first group of officers of the Revenue Marine, later the US Coast Guard. Said Hamilton:
"While I recommend in the strongest terms to the respective officers, activity, vigilance and firmness, I feel no less
solicitude that their deportment may be marked with prudence, moderation and good temper. . . They will bear in mind
that their countrymen are freemen, and as such are impatient of everything that bears the least mark of domineering
spirit. They will, therefore refrain, with the most guarded circumspection, from whatever has the semblance of
hautiness, rudeness or insult. If obstacles occur, they will remember that they are under the particular protection of
the laws and they can meet with nothing disagreeable in the execution of their duty which these will not severely
reprehend. . . This reflection, and regard to the good of the service, will prevent at all times a spirit of irritation
or resentment. They will endeavor to overcome difficulties, if any are experienced, by a cool and temperate perseverance
in their duty -- by address and moderation rather than by vehemence and violence."
Little so well measures how far this country has fallen than the archaic sound of these wise words.
- SAM SMITH
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UNDERNEWS
Oct 7, 2002
From the Progressive Review:
Inside the Beltway, Out of the Loop, Ahead of the Curve
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