I’m fully aware of police-citizen relations. I would argue that I’m more aware of them than most people. There’s an us/them divide, supported by police officers and non-police citizens, that keeps people from empathizing and reaching conclusions rationally. People come to the party with pre-conceived notions, and whatever supports their notions is emphasized while what does not is ignored. Police are no exception, so they arrive at the protest with the attitude that it’s a great big unruly mob of “dirty hippies” (I use the quotes because it’s used as a derogatory term, but not by me… my parents were hippies, I have nothing against them) and nihilists who are just waiting to break out into a violent riot. The protesters, on the other hand, regard the police as an army of goose-stepping fascists just waiting to repress the righteous down-trodden masses. Now what do you think is going to happen when these two groups of people determined to press their viewpoint meet? Peace is nearly impossible.

I’ve been to protests and riots as an officer, as a protester, and as an observer. I’ve seen officers attack protesters without provocation. And I’ve certainly seen protesters attack officers without provocation. Police officers are as much a cross-section of society as the protesters are, and neither side is all bad or all good.

I understand that people have bad run-ins with police officers. Everyone’s got an anecdote or two. Some of them are truly cases of bad cops, I’m not going to defend them. Many of them are not. Either way, they result from a failure (or refusal) by one or both sides to attempt to view the situation from the other’s perspective. Because God forbid we experience a little bit of psychological dissonance.

Nothing’s going to change while people maintain their divisive attitudes. You can’t just get rid of all the police, all the “white Republicans,” all the “nascar fans,” and all the “christians.” And you can’t change things in a democracy without them. Like it or not, you have a minority worldview no matter who you are. And nobody else is going to take you seriously when you’re calling them fascists, Nazis, pigs, white trash, bigots, etc.

I can’t speak for all groups you are opposed to, but I can tell you that police officers are people to and that if you treat them as such things will go better for everyone. Many of us share the same beliefs that you do. Many of us are as much victims of police subculture as you are. But it gets tiring being attacked from both sides, believe me. Every time you make blanket statements about police officers or use derogatory, unnecessarily vicious language, you’re burning bridges where you should be building them. You’re giving that young officer more reason to turn to the worldview of his jaded, hardened superiors.

While I commend your enlightened political stance Officer Jones, and would generally agree that not making unfounded accusations / assessments is a commendable aspiration, I believe you are either naive or willfully ignorant of the state of police-citizen relations.

I have personally been involved in protests both in the US and abroad. I have witnessed the violation of our rights here and of decency abroad by armed, scared, and angry police (militia).

While I was not in St. Paul and I do not know what took place I do not find it a leap of faith to imagine the police were looking for a “reason”. Having grown up in inner city Detroit the police are ALWAYS looking for a reason.

I am an investment banker, with an MBA. I speak 3 languages, and yet when I cross the border in my home town with a woman of color I am harassed. When I travel in the suburbs with friends of color, I am harassed, but never when alone are with another “acceptable” member of society.

While you are commended for having the courage to think for yourself and stand apart from the “blue shield” your desire to think that your comrades in arms are anything less than militarized armed agents of our increasingly totalitarian fascist government (phone tap anyone, patriot act??).

While these issues are still below the surface when white republicans, nascar fans, and christians start having their rights affected I hope people will awaken to the fact that we as a society have shopped, ate, and drank in a grotesque glutinous orgy while the very document that we tout around the world as proof of our superiority was fed through a shredder.

“There is no greater evil then the indifference of decent men (people)”

I also absolutely agree that the National Guard should never be included in these sorts of things. If the local PD doesn’t have enough manpower (they almost never do), then they can borrow manpower from neighboring PDs. To put soldiers on the street, who are trained to follow orders blindly (police officers are /supposed/ to act according to their own judgment rather than just orders) and know absolutely nothing about civil rights, criminal law, and the intersection thereof, is incredibly foolish.

“BS,” sometimes cops do press BS charges for BS reasons, ie they didn’t like a guy’s attitude. Sometimes, though, a “BS” charge (like disturbance of peace, public nuisance) is used against someone who is a “bad actor” but for whom no other, more appropriate charges, can be proven. It’s not always just a power trip.

As for “Conspiracy to Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism”… I agree, it sounds ridiculous. It lumps those folks into the same bag as Osama bin Laden, which I’m sure was the intent when legislators wrote the law. From a purely denotation standpoint, much rioting is in fact terrorism – “the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes.” Of course you’d have to prove the rioting was politically motivated, and chances are the people doing the actual destruction aren’t very politically aware. Anyway, the police just arrested some people destroying property. The prosecutors press the charges, which the legislators write.

Even this article seems to hint to more bs: “Conspiracy to Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism”. In furtherance of terrorism? FFS.

Cops and law are losing credibility and community goodwill at breakneck pace. And when that hits rock bottom the only winners are the powertippers.

Bigshot hall monitors. ALL.
Superior to everyone and blind to reality by training-brainwashing.

I’m sick of reading about police officers abusing powers or acting inappropriately. I’m ashamed of them and the dishonor they bring to our profession. But I’m also sick of people making blanket statements about us or giving completely one-sided assessments.

In St. Paul, the majority of protesters went completely un-harassed by police officers. These were the protesters who acted peacefully, did not disrupt other citizens’ use of the public right-of-way, and did not destroy or attempt to destroy property. The problem is when you have groups of anarchists – some large, but some small and interspersed with otherwise peaceful protesters – destroying property and interfering with other citizens’ freedom of movement. To quote the libertarian motto: “Your rights end where others’ rights begin.” As is always the case, police cooperated beforehand with protest organizers to ensure that free speech and assembly rights were upheld without endangering the people of St. Paul. Anarchists and those who traveled with them violated that agreement when they decided to start blocking traffic, breaking windows, and slashing tires. I don’t see anywhere in any legal document granting you the right to do any of those things.

As for the media being arrested . . . in some cases they’ve gone too far. I suspect that some officers targeted the “anti-cop” media folks particularly because they are “anti-cop”. As for other media arrests, I can’t be sure, and neither can you, because we weren’t there. But since I wasn’t I prefer to give both sides the benefit of doubt. Were they really legitimate media? Did they have press passes? Holding a camera or a microphone or a notebook does not make you “media.” I’m not saying in every case they were right; I saw Amy Goodman’s arrest and I’m pretty sure they should’ve known better; I’m just saying, it’s a very difficult situation to deal with and not every police officer is bad.

The real problem, on both sides, is people like commenter Doug Ward, who use self-righteous, divisive language – and who advocate violence as a solution.