Many of you know me from Late Late Nite. What some of you may not know is that I am a lifelong Republican who served 24 years in law enforcement for a city police department on the West Coast. I’ve worked patrol and detectives and loved it all. It has been 4 years since I retired due to on-the-job injuries and, because of those injuries, I was driving a desk the last couple of years so my street experiences are even more out of date.
But I can say that, in my opinion, the tactics being used by law enforcement in Minneapolis/St. Paul appear to be very heavy handed methods whose sole purpose appears to be to intimidate. I’m ashamed of the unprofessional conduct – but feel I must add that I have no knowledge of standards of professional conduct in states other than California.
I don’t know who is running this show but it smells like the Feds have been taking lessons from the pre-Olympics Chinese to me. In the America that I policed, all of the Bill of Rights were protected, including the First Amendment right guaranteeing freedom of speech and assembly and the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unlawful search and seizure.
I was attending a Homicide Investigation school when the Rodney King video broke and remember feeling ashamed to be wearing the badge because of the actions of my brother officers down in Los Angeles. Other officers attending (from all over the state including LAPD) were embarrassed and there was a lot of talk during breaks about the stain on the badge from the actions of those in the King video. The past several days and nights, I have been watching the videos over at the Silo and here at the Lake and I’ve got that same shame all over again.
Upon arriving in Beijing before the Olympics, Bush admonished the Chinese when he attended the dedication of the US Embassy with:
…We must work together to protect the environment and help people in the developing world; continue to be candid about our belief that all people should have the freedom to say what they think and worship as they choose. We strongly believe societies which allow the free expression of ideas tend to be the most prosperous and the most peaceful. [my bold]
Is President Bush going to likewise admonish the Minnesotans?
indybay.org photo from must-see video of woman offering a flower to police at the Republican Convention in MN and being peppersprayed. Thanks to FDL commenter smgumby for getting it to youtube.
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Great post Suzanne!!
The footage is truly shocking and shameful. My good friend was an NYPD officer for 20 years, and I know that in those days they served with honor. She would never have been a participant in this kind of gestapo behavior.
Very, very scary times that we are in…very scary.
Thanks. Glad to hear your voice on this subject, Suzanne. The police in Minnesota could use a few refresher courses.
Very sadly, the title really is what has to go through our minds: Saint Paul or Beijing?
Suzanne!
nice to see you front paged in the daylight (you prolly need to have your shades on)
g’day pups – its forking bright out here *putting on mirrored sunglasses*
i gotta say, ya’ll look different in the daylight.
Suzanne! Awesome post, with a unique perspective.
Hahaha…big banner behind Bob Bennett on MSNBC…”Fund Education, not Occupation”…
Heh.
Hey Suz!
Welcome to daytime!
And please don’t feel shame for the actions of stormtrooper thugs in other states.
We call that “the good old days.”
When you were police, and another officer violated the rights of someone in custody, or violated someones rights who might be subject to arrest, what was the inter-departmental procedure?
Thank you again, Suz!
in addition to our internal affairs department, we had our normal chain of command. i would have let my sgt know and it would become an ia matter at that point.
our mission statement for the dept stressed professionalism, integrity, and dedication.
thanks, dakine. i would hope that all would feel ashamed of the tactics of pepperspraying a young woman who simply offered a flower to the officers.
to me, that is an inappropriate use of force.
Well now!
Not only up before noon but front paging as well!
Congratulations my dear!
As fer this subject, It disgusts me.
Two words describe it perfectly,
Police State.
It has been getting worse and worse, especially the last six years.
Add Blackwater into the mix and it is truly frightening.
We have no rights anymore, none.
Even look at a cop crooked anymore and you are seriously taking your life in your hands as they will tazer you, arrest you and then beat the snot out of you AFTER you have been hand cuffed.
I know this last part from personal experience, from more than one occasion.
Many of you know me from Late Late Nite.
Have we met?
*g*
Hiya Suz.
Hi Suzanne.
Thank you.
One question keeps nagging at the corners of my mind.
Real state troopers or blackwaddah?
Hey Suz about time you said your two cents worth. You were the kind officer every community wants and needs! some one who knows the laws and respects the individual rights we all have!! Great Post Suz!
Here is the Digg you earned for your well written Post and Unique perspective!
Wow! I missed that one. Jeebus even the cops and National Guard in the ’60s never did something like that I don’t think. At least not on camera. They just let the DFHs put the flowers in the barrel of their guns and went on with life
hey busted, thanks
i agree – it has gotten much worse than what i am comfortable with. i read the ongoing series of posts over at dibgy’s about inappropriate tazing of subjects and it pisses me off.
all it takes is one bad apple to spoil the bunch. everyone who is not an asshole but wears a badge is tarred with the crap emitting from the bad apple.
Thanks for sticking up for the honest, law-abiding police officers who work to protect the Constitution of the United States, protect the public and fight crime.
those goons in uniform in st. paul are nothing but government criminals disguised as law enforcement.
i would hope that all would feel ashamed of the tactics of pepperspraying a young woman who simply offered a flower to the officers.
Not only did they blast her in the face, they shot her again when she had turned her back and was clearly walking away.
That’s not only cowardly and disgusting, but quite possible an illegal battery, imo.
good on ya Suzanne. nobody respects people in authority that abuse that authority. the Minneaoplis police are being bullies, plain and simple.
Suz! great post.
I’m in shock having just jumped over from c&l and the story on Amy goodman.
This is atrocious! why is this not being reported????
i dunno – i’ve heard that there are a lot of private types (blackwater would be my guess) in the twin cities – brought in by the feds to supplement staffing – but i’ve not seen any proof of their being there.
Suzzane, I’ve been on the other side of this. When I came home from Vietnam I was extremely angry and ready and willing to engage in “bringing the war” home as it was put last night. I have seen close up how easy it is for a few dedicated organized people to provoke the cops into over-reacting and hammer totally innocent people. Add the right-wingers who also benefit from this kind of activity and you have a volatile stew. It’s easy enough to find pictures that support either side, innocent protesters and idiots provoking the cops. There are no doubt cops that like busting heads and “street figtin men (and women” who want to squabble to make their point. I guess I’m having trouble with all this stuff being thrown around about pigs, jackboots, thugs and all that. You were a cop, you know they are no better or worse than than the rest of us.
*blushing* thanks nahant, and thanks for the digg
The flower in the gun was in the first march on the Pentagon in what, 1965. Chicago, hard hat riots in NYC, Kent State, University of Wisconsin, People’s Park,. . .there was plenty of ass kickin that was way beyond this.
I just wonder if they’re will ever be any justice for these wrongly persecuted folks. You know Amy Goodman will pursue it, but will there be any? I’m not going to hold my breath.
From Freepress.net:
Lurk sorry for all the linkies (:>))
yeah. yeah. I know you!!
“think and worship as they choose”
We live in a country where the Ayatollahs Dobson and Bauer can basically order a Rethug presidential hopeful to put a patently unqualified theocon into his VP slot without any vetting whatsoever… and whose Justice Dept has been run for 8 years by the likes of Commissar Goodling. Freedom to think and worship as we choose?
Glad to see you dived right in!
Did you listen to Amy Goodman’s description of her arrest on democracynow this morning? Talk about strong arm tactics. Secret Service participated too. Took away her badge to get inside the convention & wouldn’t sign for it.
i agree raven. its just as easy to have a few cowboy cops out there provoking a reason to get in someone’s face.
with tensions running high, it is even more important that the officers working crowd control have proper training about effective crowd control and are not trying to provoke the citizens into committing arrestable offenses.
Hi Suzanne, great post, thanks.
Those 50 millions brought in a lot of policemen from outside Minnisota. I can bet these guys were vetted in a much more professional fashion than they vetted Palin. They really had to make sure these law enforcers would enjoy abusing demonstrators.
Hope all is well with you.
Dugg!
i’ve not – i’m normally still sleeping this time of day – is there a link for listening to it online after it has aired?
Suzanne, thanks for this. Had no idea of your background. Wow.
I have written elsewhere that during the Repub Conv. in NYC, there was something non-humanly mechanical, media unreported, massive, efficient, ambushing using “shock and awe” not as heavy handed as what I am seeing on these videos by the police’s behavior … but sending out those ripples of discouragement quickly and emphatically, in INTIMIDATING protesters from the bottom-line act of protesting. Not to contain unrowdy behavior for protesting, but to punish the activity. I am sure the trickle-down message from Mr. Bloomberg (who is popular in NYC to a great extent on both sides) was a zero tolerance for the very activity and to steamroll it back without respect for its rightfulness. Tons of those plastic handcuffs at the ready. Illegal roundups, too, in regards to permits acquired.
I am repeating myself. I kept thinking of those two seventy something Chinese women wanting to register for protesting the lack of compensation for losing their homes in the name of the Olympics and getting one year hard time “reeducation camp”. Talk about “bait and switch”. Government wants to “talk the talk” having protest areas.. but God help anyone naive enough to step up to test that.
St. Paul one more gated community right now, the entitlement of the oligarchy in America. And the “good solder” behavior needed by the police, or whomever needs trustworthy messages from on high. Kool-aid group think for those on the front lines, needing to trust the intel and the management of the local, state, federal enforcement crews.
And Siun’s video of the raids on Iraq homes. Sounds like that raiding is happening here, beginning to use that as a prototype, not yet as vicious, but with machine guns drawn, emphatic enough. Traumatize and seize property — FISA warrant respect went undefended by the citizenry, so Repubs feel blank check for slick and heavyhanded abuse … and now punishing those in America brave enough to express outrage at the deconstruction of our constitution and the war criminality by our leaders is the reckoning of it all, with worse to come I have no doubt.
Wonder how long our precious FDL window for telling truth to and about power will stay open. I cherish it now. And respect and feel enormous gratitude for the leadership and citizenry here.
**blink-blink**
Is that Suzanne on the front page whilst the sun shines?!
Yay!
Thanks for your unique and valuable perspective on this, madame.
FSTV has ongoing coverage…
i am Digg number seven.
Anybody know offhand if the protests are getting much coverage by MSM outside the U.S.?
Perhaps what has been overlooked is the real nature of police. They are the interface of state power with the citizens, or subjects of the state with the express purpose of maintaining order, usually expressed by law. Police are authoritarian and are trained in authoritarian tactics. Police are trained as is the military to follow orders, directly, quickly, without question. Police react strongly when their authority is put to question, questioning undermines their authority and their reason for being and is never tolerated.
Also perhaps, when police power is not strictly kept in tightly controlled limits, mischief will be the result. Once Judges and the courts held close check upon police procedures, but with the advent of (Nixonian) “Law and Order” that oversight of Judges has been eviscerated and the courts emasculated from effective guidance through the granting of approval by the police for the Judge to retain tenure on the court.
Public oversight is also a significant restraint upon police mischief, but when the public is under a myth that the police can do no wrong, that ability to oversee the activities of the police no longer has an effect.
Once again, Belief that those in Blue are ones friends is a mistaken and dangerous idea. It is shown to be so in most places in the world. If the police are regulated and circumscribed in the application of their powers, at best, they may not be ones enemies, but never close your eyes to the power they wield.
*not trying to shower on your parade Suzanne*
See link at bottom of Nahant’s comment at 26 to see the Goodman video…just outrageous.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/2/stream
Then scroll down to your preferred listening/viewing venue & click on it. I think the segment is the first one after headlines.
thanks for the warm greetings pups. i gotta admit, i was quite nervous about writing this and hosting in the daytime. its way different than my usual 10 word post that accompanies a music video in the middle of the night (grin).
thanks for making my worries and nervousness disappear pups
surely the Obama-Biden campaign will release a statement supporting freedom of expression – of the kind that was brutally suppressed by Federal and local joint task forces in Minnesota – that is what their Campaign of Change is all about, right?
If Bush is on record supporting the “free expression of ideas” then Obama can agree with him on that, I would think.
And the Mayor of St. Paul is from the Democratic Party, how could he let this happen?
sign me Concerned!
NYC has paid off protesters who were manhandled during 04 convention. I’ll betcha any money nothing will be paid to those from this convention. Part of the increasing militarization & loss of liberty in the U.S. Push it farther & farther every time the get the chance.
(((((Suz)))))
Our cable tv provider has been down all morning – anyone watch Democracy Now today? IIRC the
Blackwater, errrr, Minneapolis police officer bloodied Amy’s nose without any apparent provocation.Can’t ever go back to the shadows now!
Thanks for a thought-provoking piece, Suzanne.
I would love to see a systematic study done on an accumulation of the massive amounts of video that was recorded yesterday and a comparison of it to the arrest reports and mug shots for those accused of felonies.
Are most of the reported acts of violence against property and people recorded? Can the perpetrators be identified in the video? Were the appropriate people arrested? How much of the violence is from actual protesters and how much is potentially from “embedded” infiltrators? How many police should be facing charges?
It seems that answers to some of these questions could be approached with an appropriate level of analysis. An attempt to get at the truth can only help those on both sides of yesterday’s sad display who are interested in the causes of peace and justice.
Suzanne, thanks.
This is the new democracy of BushCo. Brutal suppression. The federal heavy hand is all over this. One wonders how many Predator Drones are aloft over St. Paul? Fusion centers, pre-emptive strikes, aerial coordination of police response, uniformed officers with no visible I.D. or affiliation (Secret Police).
Sound like law enforcement? Or something else.
There is no reason to pepperspray a person holding a flower on a public street, none!
On Glenzillas blog, writer points up the huge cost to local government (taxpayers) of this kind of police malpractice. The lawsuits will take untold $$$ that are badly needed for schools, real police, fire, and other services.
Frank Zappa’s “Trouble coming everyday” rings in my head today….
transparency in policing is just as important as transparency in governing.
i acted every day i worked as if i was being videotaped – by maintaining high professional standards in all interactions with the public, i was able to serve honorably.
It wasn’t Amy’s nose, it was her producer’s nose…see link to video at comment 26.
wanna bet? (laughing)
Hmm, pretty wide ranging statement doncha think?
i’ll check out the goodman interview – thanks all for the links
Now that’s character…what you do when no one is looking. WTG Suz.
This is pretty creepy stuff. And I hope it goes viral.
I guess everybody has heard that Donna Brazille got doused with some pepper spray as she made her way past protesters on her way to the Xcel Center yesterday?
OT – Anybody checked to see if pepper futures are trading higher today?
we have reason to suspect that the peace activist/demonstration groups were/are infiltrated by rethuglican-associated law-enforcement types.
we may reasonably believe that some of these spies offered bogus “intelligence” suggestive of police-hatred viz-a-vi “probable cause”: “They are Anarchists!!“
the posers spew their bile to exacerbate fear/hate of protesters among the troops.
Then the infiltrators may be expected to provide the provocation(s) to induce police attacks.
if only in some cases.
I was on the receiving end of the tactics of LAPD in the early 70’s, still in the military but was with a long haired hippie. Pulled over for no reason, roughed up, thrown in the slammer on trumped up charges. Released only after someone discovered my ID and contact info to nuke weps officer. My friend stayed in the slammer for 3 more days before being released. Trust the heat about as far as I can throw a dump truck. I apologize if I’ve offended you with my comments but my feelings remain the same. If CA has professional standards they sure failed them during the immigration rally in LA last year.
sounds like we need to have int’l human rights monitors at our election protests from no on. Seizing journalists’ badges without provocation is well into international thuggery-land.
Suz!
I expect a headline sometime before Election Day announcing that BushCo has determined we need martial law…be it over “anarchists” or over the looming Iran/Russia/whatever war. It will happen when the polls show Obama well ahead of McCain, and kiss the election goodbye.
Got it – thanks LS.
Raven, I can still remember watching in horror at Kent State on tv. Your earlier post was well taken. When I went to see Barack at Georgia Tech ages ago, they had extra security because of the anarchists. I did take one of their handouts though.
jane had a post up at the silo last night as the story was breaking.
the silo has been putting up some great coverage of what’s happening on the streets in the twin cities.
Yay Suz! Thanks for your post.
why bother? If the last few days have been any indication, they already seem to have all the emegency power they could ever want to crack whoevers’ heads they please.
Suz in the daytime!
Woohoo!
lindsay has a new post up about 284 arrests at the RNC convention
I’m probably totally wrong, all cops are facist pigs and all “activists” are peace loving lettuce heads with not a spec of malice anywhere in their hearts.
Suzanne,
Thanks for your perspective on these events. Please post again, as situations develop. Like the very next top post– I hope you will investigate and provide your perspective.
Bob in HI
Yeah, just a little collateral damage in keeping the in-denial status quo. Write a check. And it will get easier and easier, and less challenged the more it goes on. I think you are right. Fewer checks. More freedom for them to defy our basic freedoms cuz no one seems to be asserting power to defend it.
Reading lately about the lack of accountability of the outsourced contracted “militia” in Iraq and elsewhere, the excessive money they are paid, the cowboy behavior, the tip of the iceberg corruption and abuses. They are not beholding to their own community of citizens — no sense of loyalty there.., a mercenary for hire kind of group think, after all no government benefits just hot hot hot money on a day basis, they are beholding to the will of their corporate leadership. And we know the “legal person” personality of a corporation resembles that of a psychopath, a fundamentalist leaning psychopath perhaps. Yeah, that mode is calling the shots, pun intended!
have i mentioned that i collect pigs? fabric ones, ceramic, pewter, brass, all kinda pigs in storage :)
thanks, bob – if the lake wants me to post on it again, i will be honored to do so.
come back more often.
You’re killin me over here! We collect cocker spaniel stuff.
thanks bfl – i feel like a wee dog running with the big dogs here today. ya’ll have helped me be able to do so
The woman in that video was not just peppersprayed, she was blasted with the stuff!
I agree with you. It really pissed me off when I heard that people were destroying property…windows, etc. Either idiots or agitators..hard to say, but that kind of protesting gets my hackles up and is not helpful.
the ladies at the quilting guild i used to belong to cracked up at the idea of a pig collecting pigs. i never knew there were so many different fabrics with pig motifs – and my secret pals during the years i was affiliated with the guild made sure i had fat quarters of most of them. one day, there is a pig quilt in my future.
I think it’s the other way round. *g*
Anecdotally, most police working in small communities are not the problem. Problem policing begins where the size of the population provides for anonymity and diminishes personal responsibility. Then too, the zeitgeist has changed from well regulated structured and disciplined devolving into the quasi gestapo that is being witnessed. I am assured from your contributions to this forum that your conduct would have been exemplary, my comments were not intended as personally directed, rather as cautionary about the institution of police. I too share Ravens experiences in other venues.
makes me wonder about agent provocateurs being used to initiate the behaviors that can then be used as an excuse for over-reacting. iirc, marcy had a post up several months before the RNC convention about the recruiting of infiltrators.
My friend collects “flying pigs”…they are sooo cute.
Suz, you really need that flowergirl video embedded. I couldn’t find it on youtube, so I added it here.
One incident of that kind of behaviour can destroy everything a group has worked for. SPFP has been very fortunate to have avoided any of that nonsense.
I’ve been thinking how the psychological effect on police working crowd control in these situations is analogous to U.S. occupation forces in Iraq and elsewhere. Not everyone surrounding you wishes you harm but SOME do. It is difficult or even impossible to discern any outward difference between people who pose a threat and those who don’t. It is easy to imagine how a person in that position might come unhinged and start lashing out in all directions. Of course, the likelihood that police or troops abroad will overreact is exacerbated when they haven’t received proper training, which seems to be standard operating procedure these days.
OT: Fasten your seatbelts. Darth is off to Georgia and neighboring countries, Darth warning that he may be engendering some “tension” there with his trip. Holy crap.
Thanks so much Suz, it’s great to get the perspective of a good cop on this.
thanks, t-bear, for clarifying. i share your cautions and worries. based on my experience, there are a lot more like me out there than there are as depicted in the lake and silo’s coverage in the twin cities.
just as all d’s are not dirty fucking hippies, not all cops are stick thumping, violent agressive out of control cowboys.
thanks, smgumby – i’ll see if i can have an editor add it in for me.
I wondered about the reports of the protesters with head coverings acting out. Being the hired bad apples the Repubs could point indignantly to, the press could get a sound bite of. Immediately suspected they were provocateurs.
Once heard a funny story so many years ago about a meeting of leftist saboteurs and every one at the meeting ironically turned out to be an undercover agent from varying agencies. What a hoot. Your tax dollars in action. Sorry, I only remember the essence, not the details of the anecdote. But what a crackup.
So, that’s pepper spray. Very nasty, indeed.
The police hide their identities from the victims and the onlookers with helmets and darkened face guards.
It’s a classic case of what tends to happen under conditions similar to the Zimbardo prison experiment where no one in authority can be held responsible for their actions, being exempt from same by mere fiat.
training is the key. when a scene goes to shit, training is what ya fall back on. that fact was drummed into my head from day one at the academy and in departmental training at briefings before shift.
Thanks for this great post, Officer Suz.
if ya refresh the post, you will see the video has been added that smgumby put up at utube that is from indymedia – its the pepperspray for a flower video.
The Stanford university experiment, the Lucifer Effect book discussed. Scary stuff.
thanks kirk – who says that cops and activists can’t be united for the common good
God, that is just so vicious.
One of the remarkable observations I have had is the inability of people to read what is in front of them and draw a valid conclusion. For instance:
is not the same as or equal to:
I am astounded at the lack of logic used and am appreciating ever-so-much-more Cassandra’s fate.
Yup and yup.
yeah, see why i feel shame – that was done by a brother officer
hey pw – are you seeing outta town patches or federal patches when riding around town on your bike?
The officer should be ashamed, not you. Gosh, and he sprays her two times like he’s having fun. Besides, I wouldn’t call him an officer, I’d call him a disgracifer.
Sick, sick, sick.
Hmmm…McCaffrey’s rattling off Marcy’s points that she pointed out that weren’t “vetted”…
smgumby – you got the h/t for the video in the updated post
Lou Costello put this site link on the other thread:
http://unrulymob.blogspot.com/…..e-101.html
I will go through things in the morning and leave word either at Attaturk or Morning swim, It is late evening here and more coverage will be by morning. I recall seeing some beginning coverage but it was swamped with Gustav and political coverage.
EPU’d, but
SUZ!!!
Missing all my firepup friends, but I’m finding it tough mentally to spend much time with ya. It’s the events, not the company or comments.
I hate not recognizing my country anymore.
FunnyD
I fired up my computer, poured a cup of java and subsequently spewed it on my screen, Suz! Suz before noon…? ;-)
Excellent post!
and i was being civil with only one cup of coffee in me – before the crack of noon even!
i’m not either funny d
sad but true
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