Shouldn’t this be biggernews? This is shocking (at least to me). Sure, “all of the gunshot wounds are non-life-threatening.” OK… but… that doesn’t make it OK. I don’t get it. Do we not care just because, I don’t know, white people be crazy? Imagine the outcry had the shooters been Muslim. Or black.
Tag: policing protests
-
The Purge!
The Purge is coming! No. Actually, really it’s not (even though it sort of did). But this bullshit did a fair bit of work to fuck things up Monday afternoon.
By noon this had already gotten more 16,000 views. The Purge was “scheduled” for 3:30pm. The first cop was injured at 3:45pm.
-
This is what a curfew sounds like
Here’s the citywide announcement (mp3 file) to police on the city curfew. Story in the Sun.
-
It’s ugly in Baltimore
Now the Eastern is burning. @PeterMoskos https://twitter.com/PeterMoskos.
-
Pray for rain
The good news from Baltimore, best I understand it — and this is based on my non-knowledge from 220-miles away (ie: twitter and social media, a friend watching a live feed at TV studio, and a few police friends) — is that things seems to be calmer downtown.
I do not mean things are over. Certainly not for police officers working all night. It’s going to be a long night. I mean calmer in the sense I’m going to go to bed (unlike the BPD) and feel confident that police are in control, that the city won’t burn down overnight. It’s a good sign when social media posts go from describing violence and chaos to complaining about “Wildly disproportionate police presence for a couple dozen protesters.” That’s a very good sign.
When things get ugly, when it’s not about protest but violence, then you gotta go in there and make sure things do not explode. As a friend’s dad told him, don’t get in fight with police because they’re not in the habit of losing. The important thing is that everybody gets to go home alive.
Let’s hope the worst is over. Police used both force and restraint tonight. It’s a tough night to be BPD. To those I worked with and those I do not know: stay safe.
-
Things getting ugly in Baltimore
Battles are going in Baltimore. Link to tweets from the Sun. In the long run, police are going to win this. It’s just a question of how many people get hurt in the process.
This breaks my heart. Not just for the people I know at risk, but also for Baltimore. I love Baltimore.
-
Well done, hon!
Things went well in Baltimore last night. So far, knock on wood, nobody else has gotten seriously hurt.
Compare this with police tactics in Ferguson. But Baltimore is better than Ferguson. And the BPD is better than the FPD. What we have not seen are flash-bang grenades. No tear gas. No gun shots (except for the “normal” Baltimore homicides). No riots. No fires. No looting.
Nothing is easy. But a bit of police restraint has gone a long way to keeping the peace. So kudos to all the brave Baltimore City police officers for a job well done.
Seeing all those cops lined up last night at the Western District WITHOUT riot gear — looking like human beings, not being provocative, taking shit (and a few bottles), looking bored, and being professional about it — it made me proud to have been a Baltimore cop.
[photo from CNN]The whole no riot gear thing is interesting. I heard former commissioner Hammsay on CNN that he he didn’t like that, tactically. “Somebody may get hurt.” He was right. But in this case it worked. Yes, it was just luck. I’m saying this in hindsight. But luck matters.
So what if police had been decked out in riot gear?Sure shields and helmets give you needed protection against rocks and bottles. They also dehumanize police officers and provide a target for people throwing things. What if some SWAT-like team was there, looking bad-ass? (Is it still “QRT” or have they have they been rebranded?) Throw in an armored personnel carrier with a turreted machine parked right out front. Well, think of the message that would send! Now we’ve got a party!
[not Baltimore]And then somebody throws a bottle. Or maybe lights a fire. And police respond with tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash grenades (the latter makes no sense at all, but anyway)? And then there’s a baton charge. What if in that melee police get hurt? Seriously hurt. Well then those injuries would justify the military-like action.
But that’s not what happened. Give credit where credit is due. And the Baltimore police last night deserve credit. Everybody went home. This didn’t “just happen.” These are choices made.
Look, it’s not easy to say, “Men, women, go out there and stand there like targets. If anybody throws anything at you, duck and dodge. Pray for the best.” But sometimes that is the job of police. Sometimes that is what you have to do to make sure nobody else, officers include, get seriously hurt. Also, ranking officers were there. That matters. (I did not see the mayor. Where was she? Was she at a more pressing meeting?)
Police exercised restraint. Police respected the right of people to protest. The police were professional and brave. Nobody knew how this was going to turn out. Imagine kissing your family goodbye that night before going to work, to stand in a line, in front of a police station, facing angry protesters throwing things at you. Shit is going down. “See you later, honey”! [smooch] It’s not just another day at the office.
I didn’t post this last night because I didn’t want to sound foolish if the Western burnt down and people were killed. One guy with a gun even a rock and good aim could have changed (and still could change) everything. But so far so good.
-
Policing protests
There’s never a guarantee in policing that a tactic will always work, but if the goal is to let people protest, not have people hurt, and end things peacefully, two cities serve as useful case studies.
In Hong Kong, protesters blocked major roadways for months (OMG, traffic was blocked!). Rather than cracking down and perhaps igniting a major revolt, the government waited it out. Police torn down the last camps a few weeks ago. In the end: “The Hong Kong government gave no substantial concessions, and the protest movement increasingly succumbed to exhaustion and internal fractures.” This is actually somewhat similar to how the NYPD dealt with Occupy in 2011.
Had the law-and-order police come in and busted heads, who knows? We might have democracy in Hong Kong (and angry people in America). But my point isn’t whether the protests are for a good cause or not, my point is there’s a right way to handle protests if you don’t want people to get hurt (or hand political capital over to the protesters).
Meanwhile in Nashville, Tennessee, the chief turned over a highway to Ferguson protesters and served hot chocolate. Of course a lot of people got pissed off at such treatment when he could have used tear gas and arrests. (And the freeway! What about the free flow of vehicle traffic?!)
In the end nobody got hurt and everybody went home. Chief Anderson wrote a nice letter in response to one complainer. Worth reading. Good on ‘im! Chief Anderson seems to understand that protesters are not an existential threat to American values as much as heavy handed policing of protesters.
Happy 2015!
-
Well done NYPD. Well done NYC.
Once again the NYPD shows it can get the job down and keep the city safe. All in all, went off pretty well yesterday. Some protestors were chanting: “What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want it? Now!” And one police officer had his nose broken when he tried to stop a protester from throwing a garbage candown on others from the top deck of the Brooklyn Bridge. A crowd attacked two NYPD Lieutenants: “Amid the fracas, the protester who was throwing the garbage can escaped.
But he left behind a bag containing three hammers and a black mask.”And that wasn’t the only incident. But all in all, we should be happy that injuries were were few and minor.
I did read one angry cop tweet about how pissed off he was at the mayor, who should “let the
NYPD take control again.” What an idiot. Like it would better for the city — or
safer for the NYPD — if the police were told to bust heads and bum-rushed the crowd, 1968 Chicago style.The way I look at it is that thousands protested peacefully, police policed professionally, and everybody got to go home. Most everything went off without major problems (unlike, as usual, Oakland).
