Kristian Williams - Our Enemies in Blue - Police and Power in America

ubber bullets, and "beanbag guns," by officers who seemed motivatedmore by anger or fear than professional law enforcement.5And police commanders admit that they lost control, not only of the streets, butof their troops as well:An essential element for the successful execution of any plan is the abilityto control operations once officers are deployed. Unfortunately, in severalrespects the command and control arrangements for WTO broke downearly in the operation.6Nevertheless, from the law-and-order side, the protests represented a vastsea of lawlessness, complete with attacks against police and property. The SeattlePolice Department After Action Report describes the protests from the policeperspective:Numerous acts of property damage, looting, and assaults on police werecommitted. Officers were pelted with sticks, bottles, traffic cones, emptychemical irritant canisters, and other debris. Some protesters used theirown chemical irritants against police, and a large fire was set in the intersectionat 4th and Pike.7What's remarkable is not so much the dispute between the police andcivil rights advocates (not to mention the protesters) , but the level of conflictbetween the city council and the police. Some of this was surely opportunisticposturing, a typical political game, with politicians scrambling to covertheir asses, point accusing fingers, and associate themselves with the winners.But the dispute also represents a sharp split between the perspectiveof the city council (as presented in its Accountability Committee Report)and that of the police (argued mostly by proxy, in a report prepared by anindependent consulting firm-R. M. McCarthy and Associates) . Not only aretheir analyses in conflict-in places, even the facts they cite are at odds-buttheir suggested remedies are in direct opposition.Funded by the mayor's office, the McCarthy and Associates report waswritten primarily by three retired law enforcement officers from New Yorkand Los Angeles. 'They describe every step of the SPD's WTO operation andurge a more forceful response when dealing with future civil disobedience.They recommend establishing the siege-like atmosphere of December 1 wellbefore any demonstrations begin, arguing thathad a restrictive safety zone been established, protest areas designatedoutside of the zone, and additional personnel from other agencies beenplanned for and deployed in a pre-emptive manner on November 26, theresults would likely have been different.8The report also suggests that the police response didn't go far enough inthe suppression of civil rights. 'The review team believes the decision to allowany previously scheduled marches or demonstrations to proceed after violencehad erupted was unwise."9 Furthermore, it recommends amending police policyby removing instructions that crowds be moved or dispersed "peacefully,"and adding explicit orders to make as many arrests as possible.lOLuckily, elected officials are likely to balk at such draconian measures. Describing179