Fairly standard police procedure

If you thought the pepper-spraying of non-violent demonstrators in a police riot at UC Davis was unjustifiable, think again:

[UC Davis police chief Annette Spicuzza] said officers were forced to use pepper spray when students surrounded them. They used a sweeping motion on the group, per procedure, to avoid injury, she said.

The students were informed repeatedly ahead of time that if they didn't move, force would be used, she said.

It's revealing to see Spicuzza unselfconsciously endorsing the notion that giving a warning validates subsequent violence; every thug who's ever told a victim that if they just cooperate they won't get hurt will recognize that logic.

And about "per procedure", there's this:

Charles J. Kelly, a former Baltimore Police Department lieutenant who wrote the department's use of force guidelines, said pepper spray is a "compliance tool" that can be used on subjects who do not resist [...]. After reviewing the video, Kelly said he observed at least two cases of "active resistance" from protesters. In one instance, a woman pulls her arm back from an officer. In the second instance, a protester curls into a ball. Each of those actions could have warranted more force, including baton strikes and pressure-point techniques.

"What I'm looking at is fairly standard police procedure," Kelly said.

Yeah, Chuck, that much is clear.  But the most interesting part to me is the notion that curling into a ball constitutes "active resistance", and that if you instinctively adopt this purely defensive pose—say, in an attempt to protect yourself from further excruciating pain when you're being attacked with the "compliance tool" of pepper spray—you've now given the police justification to beat you with truncheons, so you'll unroll yourself into a more vulnerable position and they can get on with, oh, say, rupturing your spleen.  Have I got that about right, Chuck?

Your government, ladies and gentlemen, protecting and serving the shit out of you.

Comments

[druff]

"forced to use pepper spray when students surrounded them." Maybe there are several videos, but in the one I saw, the students were seated in a crescent linking arms. I guess a seated crescent could be seen as an aggressive surrounding maneuver, if you're a cop. Or perhaps the police chief made that statement before learning that there was video, although that seems like a rookie mistake. Thank god the riot cops managed to avoid injury from the college students though.

Also, I'm noticing that news stories about this incident are happy to tell you there's a Youtube video of it, but won't go out of their way to actually link you to it. Moving images of reality too inflammatory? Could jeopardize journalistic objectivity to show instead of merely summarize?

[druff]

okay, the CBS story you linked to embeds the vid, so there's that.

[Walter Wit Man]

There's a lot of faulty logic out there regarding Occupy protests. It's sad and infuriating.

It makes me want to document it and then I remember that it would be a pointless exercise. I've seen some really egregious "reporting" about Occupy.

I'm also surprised to the extent that Democratic politicians (especially local ones like mayors and chancellors and police chiefs) are going along with the new police state.

Sure, there is some kvetching about police tactics, promises to investigate, and the occasional suspension (usually paid) . . . but what I'm seeing is complete compliance by the political leadership and the legitimization of a police state.

We now have the standard use of riot police on peaceful protesters. Direct application of chemical agents to peaceful protesters. Mass arrests with often no charges or merely citation or misdemeanor charges. Use of rubber bullets and stun grenades that have almost killed people (just look to Egypt to see how lethal these weapons are). Police have beaten people so hard their spleen has ruptured for the crime of standing in the street. Police torture people when they arrest them (deny them food and treatment and medication and mock and humiliate them). Police used LRAD technology for the second and third times on U.S. citizens (the first use was at the Pittsburgh G20 in 2009). There is evidently mass spying on peaceful protesters. Police have fired weapons at citizens recording police and police have arrested and mistreated media.

And all we get from our Democratic leaders are platitudes about liberty and other such nonsense . . . as they do nothing. Where are the indictments of the police officers committing these crimes? Where are the firings? Where are the exposes and whistle blowers? Why won't people like Mayor Quan protect their community and tell the Feds they won't allow a foreign army to come into Oakland to attack it's citizens? Instead, Mayor Quan remains silent and covers up the crimes.

[Harpfool]

@WWM: Mayor Quan, like every other politico, is"protecting her community" - i.e. the ruling class that has put her in place to protect its interests. And she is using laws that are in place for that very purpose. This is the new norm. It ain't going away.

[Walter Wit Man]

This is an interesting eyewitness report from the night of Nov. 2 to Nov. 3 in Oakland.

I especially found this section about Quan's tweets interesting:

"At some point over the 15 minutes it took me to make my way north to document the police mobilization, those barricades were lit on fire. As I stood at 17th and Telegraph looking south from behind the police line -- first held by Oakland police, then less hardcore troops from San Leandro -- a column of black smoke snaked up between the office buildings. 12:01 a.m.: "three minutes to leave, police: 'mask up!!'"

As police blocked streets leading to the plaza and began firing tear gas down Telegraph, I was not the only one tweeting with urgency. Mayor Quan was also on the soapbox, urging protestors to get in touch in the midst of the melee.

12:06 a.m. Reports that tires are burning and barricades set up on 16th. Protestors need to call my office now.

12:09 a.m. OPD has not taken action. Smoke is from burning barricade. I'll say it again, protestors need to call now.

She hasn't updated since."

It's not clear how much say she had in protecting the Oakland community. Especially in light of her other admission about being on a conference call and the very odd silence about this matter from the national media and politicians.

While it has ever been thus, we might as well document the particular flavor of fascism that is being served in our time.

For instance: LRAD weapons/vehicles. Apparently, these were used in both N.Y. and Oakland, but not reported many places.