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Nothing Says “Change” Like 3,000 Cops in Riot Gear |
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Just a little taste of what awaits me in Denver.
Last month, under pressure from the A.C.L.U. lawsuit, the city released a list of expenses related to the convention showing that the police were preparing for large demonstrations and mass arrests and that the department had spent $2.1 million on protection equipment for its officers, $1.4 million for barricades and $850,000 for supplies related to the arrest and processing of suspects.
In disclosing the cost breakdown, city officials denied rumors that had circulated for weeks that they had contemplated buying exotic nonlethal weapons that fired an immobilizing goo, or that used radiation or sonic waves to incapacitate people or vehicles.
As the article makes clear, all of this over-the-top preparation is to contain political protestors—not to protect against a terrorist attack—even though authorities admit that there is no credible threat of either terrorism or violent protest.
The federal government is also sending Denver an additional $50 million for security, and while I’m not so naïve as to think that no additional security is required, my experience in New York in 2004 (coupled with the stories I have heard about Boston) tells me that all this extra muscle will encourage authorities to err on the side of imagined security while actively suppressing the First Amendment rights of many protesters and passers-by.
Just imagine what some of that money and organization could do to feed, house, or clothe some of the Denver-area needy. . . . Just sayin’.
And now, a wag of my finger at the New York Times. The photo above, which ran with the story under the headline “Denver Police Brace for Convention,†is not actually a picture of the Denver Police, or any auxiliary that might be in Denver, for that matter. As the half-tone caption informed me (and I only noticed the caption because I wanted to reproduce the image for this post), this photograph, by Bob Bukaty of the AP, is actually from Boston, from the day before the Democratic Convention of 2004. Running this picture under a headline about Denver reminds me of nothing so much as an “artist’s interpretationâ€â€”like those you might see of aliens in the Weekly World News—and can only serve to alarm readers about the violence that supposedly awaits the Democrats this year in Denver. Violence, as the story will tell you, that is not indicated by any pre-convention intelligence.
Seems as the event actually hasnt happened they would need to produce a representative picture anyway, and I do think that the picture of the police from the 2004 convention would be more representative than any picture of the denver police today, they probably arnt walking around in their 2 million dollars worth of riot gear yet.
They didn’t have to run a picture of cops in riot gear at all. I think that this picture implies armored confrontation, and almost predicts violence–and there is no evidence that any confrontation on this order need occur. It feels to me that the editors would like a little “action” to spice up what they expect will be an otherwise dull week of convention reporting.
Why not a run a picture of Denver police and community leaders planning for an orderly protest? Well, maybe the Denver Police haven’t had one of those meetings. . . I don’t know. How about a photo of the ACLU attorneys that won the lawsuit? Or a an aerial shot of the convention site. . . I could go on. . . the fact is they chose a photo from a different time and a different event that implies violence.
It’s a little thing, but it’s an important thing.
Jeez, Red Wind, I dunno, your naivite is breathtaking. OF COURSE there will be violence and the cops themselves will propagate it. That’s what they do, friend, and it’s job security and to make sure they’re funded to the max. Don’t you understand this? All security efforts in this country are absolutely dependent on having enemies and they will make damn sure there are plenty of them.
Yes! Privatizing security is a very bad idea. Then it becomes a business that seeks to grow its profit margin instead of a service that seeks to meet a need.
Same is true of many things that are going private under this “ownership society” mentality.
Disregard that last comment. The article is about Denver police, not a private security firm. Nonetheless, we need to be careful about this overall trend toward privatization.
The story is about a lot of police in riot gear, the picture is of a lot of police in riot gear. I really think its that simple.
“America stands in firm opposition to China’s detention of political dissidents, human rights advocates and religious activists. We speak out for a free press, freedom of assembly and labor rights %u2014 not to antagonize China’s leaders, but because trusting its people with greater freedom is the only way for China to develop its full potential.”
These were George Bush’s words about the suppression of political protest at the Olympics. If we think about Gitmo, wire tapping, what’s going to happen at the conventions, and the emergence of concepts like “free sppeech zones,” is our government really that much different from the Chinese? Perhaps only in degree?
that’s my take also, I remember reading a critique of Chinese policies and realized that if I substituted USA for China the article became an apt description of current USA policies……
You guys really need to research what is going to happen at the DNC before you jump in and put your lives on the line…
I suggest you research the helicopter drills in denver, where they were throwing flag wrapped glow sticks at people for “practice”. They were also picking up and dropping off people in fenced off parking garages operated by halliburton.
More than that, look at recreate68.org and unconventionalaction.org. The DNC will have a MASSIVE false protest (agent provacatuers) and I’d rather the non-sheeple not get caught up in that. I’d tell you to observe and tape the events from your own safe location…but you’d probably get tazed for having a video camera.
Not a joke people, i suggest you report this information to the FBI after you research more…because we can all tell the “good guys” ad the fbi are asleep if there are any left. This is a CIA/Halliburton/FBI/SS job. And no one cares.
Be careful guys!
See you there guys!
Hi,
I recently noticed that a lot of the good folks who showed me link love have faded off into the sunset. I%u2019m still on most of the blogrolls (or linked in individual posts) but the technorati hourglass has apparently run out of sand. Blogrolls can keep a person%u2019s link, but after 6 months%u2014if nothing has changed then it drops off the radar regardless.
So, I sent out a huge link love post with a link included to you. I was wondering if you could do the same - that way the authority stays where it should be for all of us.
Thanks for considering this.
Sincerely,
Pastor Rob
Can everybody say POLICE STATE!