Saint Paul (and may-be that city across the river) during the RNC
From:
Mike Fratto
Date:
Aug 07 00:40 UTC
Short link
Just incredible Charlie. just incredible!
I would consider Matt Bostrom, Chief Harrington and the St. Paul Police
department negligent if them didn't plan for a worst case scenario. I certainly
can't fault anyone who prepares to do their job.
I don't know what civil disturbance uniforms are. I assume they will provide
additional protection to officers who don't have SWAT gear. So Charlie what
should our police wear when they are confronted with a group of protesters that
are intent on causing damage and destruction?
Mike Fratto
Payne Phalen
Please help those who don't get enough to eat.
http://oyh.org
http://hungersolutions.org
The future depends more on
what we do between now and then
Than what we did in the past.
--- On Wed, 8/6/08, Charley Underwood <charleyunderwood@hotmail.com> wrote:
From: Charley Underwood <charleyunderwood@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [SPIF] Saint Paul (and may-be that city across the river) during
the RNC
To: "St. Paul Issues Forum" <stpaul-issues@forums.e-democracy.org>
Date: Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 6:51 PM
Details of the $50 million security budget have now been released and were
scheduled to be submitted to the St Paul City Council this afternoon. (I have
not been able to determine how that meeting went.)
To wit:
$1.9 million for chemical irritants. To put this in perspective, if 50,000
protesters show up, that would be $38 for each one of us. Probably enough for
several applications.
$1 million for chemical masks. (For the police, of course. This doesn't
include what protesters might pay for their own masks.)
$875,000 on equipment and supplies for SWAT teams and bomb squads.
$875,000 for additional jail expenses.
$288,000 for "civil disturbance uniforms."
The entire budget was to have been submitted to the city council this afternoon
at 3:30.
In contrast, I remember with a certain nostalgia how Assistant Chief Matt
Bostrom spoke at a public information gathering at St Paul last fall. I
remember when he said that protecting our civil liberties was the number one
thing that motivated him to get out of bed in the morning. I remember when he
said that St Paul police and other departments under St Paul command would
absolutely NOT be wearing SWAT or other military-style uniforms and would not
be
permitted to cover up their badge numbers or other identification. He promised
that officers during the convention would be there primarily to protect the
free-expression rights of protesters, patrolling in their usual uniforms,
enforcing the same laws they always enforce and that the officers would NEVER
under any circumstances be engaging in the sort of mass fencing and arrests and
multiple-day mass holding areas that characterized the RNC in New York in 2004.
So I am wondering why so much tear gas, pepper spray and other chemical agents.
I am wondering why the "civil disturbance uniforms" expense for the
uniforms he swore they wouldn't be using. I am wondering if St Paul has
also passed an ordinance or issues an order like that passed by the Minneapolis
City Council last week, permitting rubber bullets, permitting taped-over badges
and permitting confiscation and destruction of camera and video equipment.
Folks, why are we doing this? We already know who the Republicans will
nominate. We will certainly know before September 1 what their platform will
be. Either Assistant Chief Bostrom was playing us with his previous promises,
or the press release is totally fictional or someone got to him in the
meantime.
Which leads me to my final recollection of that St Thomas meeting. Someone
asked Matt Bostrom if he was certain that he actually had the power to control
the policing circumstances or if the Secret Service might come in at the last
minute and change everything. He said he was certain. The follow-up question
was if he was wrong and the Secret Service overrules him, would he resign. He
thought for a long moment, then replied that he would indeed resign.
Really, why are we doing this? What democratic purpose is possibly served in
potentially quashing so many civil liberties for a bunch of balloons and
motorcades? Are the hotel rooms and bar tabs really worth it?
Charley Underwood
Longfellow (SD 62 A), Minneapolis
Info about Charley Underwood: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/charleyunderwood
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